Argentina's Wine Labels
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Vino del Sol Hanging out in Argentina for a week with VdS’s owners Thane Prichard & Alejandro Bourientos, convinced me that these guys are doing it right --- unlike any other American importer of Argentina wines, they are on the ground and directly involved with their producers. Alejandro --- kind of Argentina’s version of Master Somm. Larry Stone (but not as nerdy) -- was plucked from Buenos Aires’ Five Star property (The Alvear/Palace Hotel), because he knew all of the top players, along with the up & coming superstars. “Aly” as he’s known, quickly introduced Thane & his other business partner to the local superstars, who in turn introduced them to the up & coming stars. Spending a few days, dining in some of the top restaurants from Mendoza to Buenos Aires, convinced me all of these producers are on Argentina’s “cutting edge”.... And better yet --- Vino del Sol never rests on their laurels, always evaluating their current group of producers & tweaking their portfolio to conform to their model. If a current producer makes any changes --- not just in pricing, but from vineyard sources to winemaking practices --- they will be closely scrutinized by the partners to see if these are actual improvements, or cost-cutting maneuvers. And the latter will soon be discontinued... Argentina Quick Facts - High desert climate: dry and mucho sol (300+ Days per Year); the environment allows for consistency in the quality of wine produced from year to year - 3,000 feet and higher vineyard altitudes; this altitude creates drastic day and night temperature differences, which in turn produce more concentrated fruit - Argentina’s vines are more resistant to pests (notably the Phylloxera insect), which result in older vines (many of the wineries with whom Vino del Sol is working have vines over 80 years old). - Argentina has the world's largest geographical range of vineyards, stretching from the 22nd to 42nd southern parallels. These extensive latitudes and their different ecologies produce a wide variety of exciting terroirs. - Argentina has a 150 year-old winemaking tradition (and is the world's 5th largest wine producer), yet mixed with this tradition is world-class technology and some of the world's top winemakers. Argentina 101 Like every other wine growing country on Earth, Argentina has diverse appellations & sub- zones, each specializing in specific varietals due to the usual factors like weather and soils --- but what appears to make Argentina unique is it’s extreme latitude and altitude variations. Argentina has the world's largest geographical range of vineyards of any major wine producing country, stretching from the 22nd to 42nd southern parallels. These extensive latitudes and their different terroirs produce a wine variety of grapes and styles. Argentina can also claim to grow noble wine grapes at higher elevations than anywhere else in the World. Argentina’s climate can be called: “Andean” --- unlike Chile with it’s Pacific Ocean influence -- it’s the Andes which dictates it’s climate.... Essentially a high desert with extremely hot Summers, the growers need to to go to higher elevations to get to the right temperature variances (warm days - cool nights). Much of it looks like Arizona’s Sonoran desert (but with the +20,000’ Andes as a backdrop). Depending on the source --- there’s vineyards in Salta (Cafayate) that are close to 12,000 feet in elevation! Although Salta’s (Cafayate) “sweet spot” lies anywhere between 6,000’ and 10,000’, there’s vineyards even at higher elevations in Salta that are reported to be close to 12,000 feet! Mendoza’s diverse Uco Valley (comprising over 50% of the country’s wine production) is between 3,000’ - 7,000’. The lowest elevations can be found in the extreme southern latitudes of Patagonia (600’ - 1500’). Much -- but not all --- of Argentina’s grape vines are not grafted, but own-rooted due to many factors: It’s sandy/alluvial soils aren’t conducive to phylloxera.--- Combined with the traditional form of “flood irrigation” prevented phylloxera from ever establishing in the top soils. Like Washington (state), freezes in winter also deter most pests from establishing themselves permanently.... Nonetheless, many new wineries are opting to graft new vineyards to help ensure vineyard stability, along with proper clonal mixes/types. Not unlike Stimson Lane in our own state of Washington (for example), one producer (Catena) dominates a large percentage of the Argentine wine industry. Catena’s former “Master Winemaker”: Alejandro Sejanovich disclosed their annual production to be in excess of 33,000,000! Yes --- that’s over 33 million cases of wine produced annually!! Granted, much of that is for domestic use --- but American buyers beware! 2011Vintage Great vintage throughout Argentina.. Expect huge scores! Unequivocally one of the best vintages in many years. Due to spring-time frosts, extremely low yields (30% lower than 2010). Argentina’s Wine Labels 85% Minimum: To be “varietally” labeled, a wine must include at least 85% of that designated grape. But blending remains a future endeavor for most wine producers in Argentina, with an inordinate amount of wines currently being 100% varietal. Reserva & Gran Reserva: Like Spain & Italy (and unlike the U.S.) these terms have legal implications pertaining to the amount of time aged in barrels & time aged in the bottle. Generally, the better the site, the more (new) oak it can handle..... Thus, many Reservas & Gran Reservas will also come from specific blocks or very special single vineyards. Finca: Vineyard. Bodegas: Winery. Argentina - Spanish Pronunciations: Everybody speaks spanish --- but the Argentine dialect has some unique differences: The Double L --- “LL”: Most Spanish speaking countries pronounce it like a “Y” (Guillermo = GE-Yair-Mo), but in Argentina it is pronounced like a hard “J” (or almost an “shh” in Buenos Aires) --- depending on which part of Argentina you live.... Examples: Guillermo (pronounced: GE-Jair-Mo) Valle de Uco (pronounced: Vah-Jay duh OO-ko) “Y”: Much like the “double L”, it is pronounced like a hard “J” (or almost an “shh” in Buenos Aires) --- depending on which part of Argentina you live.... Examples: Cafeyate (pronounced: Café-Jah-Tay) History Viticulture can be traced back to1556, when the Priest Juan Cidron (of the La Merced Order) brought the first grape vines from Santiago (Chile), over the Andes to the Mendoza region, together with cotton seeds and fruit trees. But there was a long period of time between the introduction of grape vines --- to what’s called: “the modern era”. Some say it began in 1852, but in my opinion it really began in 1996 --- when Argentina began exporting their wines internationally. Because up until the early 1990’s, the majority of the plantings were in the flatter, eastern part of Mendoza --- and all of the wines were more about quantity, than quality --- and thus made in a very different way than we see today. And not unlike California pre-1980’s --- the wrong grape varieties were also planted in the wrong fashion, and in the wrong places. But over the 440 years there were some key points in history worth noting: 1580 (apx. date) --- Mendoza: Local merchants, taking advantage of the indigenous labor, began developing viticulture in Mendoza. At the same time the Church started cultivating the vines next to the chapels, to produce sacramental wines for Mass. 1852 -- The “modern wine industry” in Argentina officially started when the Mendoza Governor Sarmiento* asked the French Agronomist Miguel Pouget to import to Mendoza French varietals and to create a Training Farm to teach agricultural techniques. All these grapes were known as “French” grapes (even though the fact that Pouget imported around 120 different varietals), making a difference from the traditional indigenous grapes called “Criollas.” Pouget elaborated wines with the "French Varietals" and won the first Bronze medal for an Argentine wine in the Paris exposition of 1889. *Today, Mendoza Governor Sarmiento’s former residence is the home of Club Tapiz owned by Patricia Ortiz -- coincidentally the owner of Zolo & Tapiz wines. 1944 --- Large Wine Production & Consumption = Pour Quality: Over 250,000 acres of vines were planted, half of them were Malbec --- much of it in Eastern Mendoza (similar to California’s San Joaquin Valley). The wine industry starts to develop seriously, but produced mostly lower-quality wine. Buenos Aires was a great consumer which encouraged Mendoza to produce big quantities at low price and quality. In order to afford this demand, the industry fostered cheaper grapes like "the Criollas,” but for a great part of the consumers the color was of some importance. Because of this the wineries used French grapes to add more color and the best for this purpose was the Malbec, which not only helped to increase the color but the aromatic profile as well. 1940 - 1980 --- Identifying grape varieties & labels: INTA (National Institute of Agriculture techniques), worked to clear the chaos of "the French grapes" identifying and organizing the different varietals in the area. At the same time the great success of the wine consumption in the market (90 liters per capita) finished with an overproduction crisis, which forced the winegrowers to pull out thousands of grape's acres, losing in that way a valuable grape treasure. 1996 --- Argentina starts its wine export industry: Argentina needed to find a new path for their wines, as domestic consumption fell from over 100 bottles per capita to around 35. They realized the great potential in the vineyards led by Malbec, which demonstrated a great quality potential. After more than 100 years in the country Malbec had developed its own profile different from all the existing vineyards in the world. At the same time the Argentine government became more free trade, reducing import and export tariffs.