ISSN 1853-9610 Nº89 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2018 CrowdMusic Pleasers Festivals in Argentina Mendoza Winery Guide Restaurants Maps www.wine-republic.com 1 2 3 CONTENTS News Republic Out & About MegaDegustación...................................................... 5 Bars............................................................................... 22 Wine O’Clock. Wine Paradise.................................. 5 Dining out.................................................................. 24 Al vino...Toro. ............................................................. 5 Winery Guide........................................................... 26 The Faded Gradeur of Maipú Maps & More Once a boom town with some of the biggest Useful information.................................................. 23 wineries in the World....................................................... 6 Map of Mendoza City Center............................... 30 Map of Maipú............................................................ 32 Crowd Pleasers Map of Chacras de Coria........................................ 34 Music Festival in Argentina............................................. 10 Map of San Martín Park......................................... 34 Summers Nigths in Mendoza 14 Long warm days invite people to go out to have a drink............................................................................................. 16 CREDITS Page 6 Issue FEBRUARY -MARCH 2018 - ISSN 1853-9610. 10,000 Copies. Published by Seven Colors S.A. Page 10 Address: Espejo 266, Planta baja. Departamento 3. Mendoza, Argentina - Tel. +54 (261) 425-5613 Editor: Charlie O’Malley Publicity and Publisher: Mariana Gómez Rus: [email protected], Page 16 [email protected] Design: Circlan.com . Jona Conti: [email protected]. Contributors: Gabriela Raimondo, Mariana Gómez Rus Printer: Artes Gráficas UNION Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily the editorial opinions of Wine Republic www.wine-republic.com 4 NEWS REPUBLIC Megadegustación Al Vino...Toro: Wine Flowing in the Streets 120 years of Toro Wine This mega event is held in Sarmiento Street where Giol winery was gigantic and their brand Toro is still wineries from Mendoza put up stands for a couple of one of the most drank wines of Argentina. A Toro days of wine tasting. This year the dates are from the (bull) was the image of the winery and legend goes 22nd until the 25th of February. People buy tickets that drops of champion bull’s blood were added to the and can try entry level or premium wines amidst winemaking process. Now, Fecovita carries on with the delicious food stands. Sarmiento Street is also well- production of Toro which is table wine for the everyday known for its restaurants so you can either try the consumption. Federación de Cooperativas Argentinas finger food or have something more substantial. The (FeCoVitA) is a large Cooperative in the viticulture sure thing is that there will be copious amount of world. It encompasses 5.000 producers and 30.000 wine being poured to eager tourists and locals who hectares of vineyards. They represent the 30% of the can try all their favourite labels in just one place. It is local consumption of wine. In Buenos Aires the brand is a fun evening with Tango shows and DJs. The main everywhere and a few years ago there was a marketing focus is of course on the wine so there are also famous campaign which was very successful called the Vino winemakers who do Q & A sessions. All in all, fun, food Toro Manifest. It was a commercial which talked about and vino. calling things by their own names. It ended with ‘al vino, Toro’ meaning if you drink wine, call it Toro. From then on that phrase became a part of the Argentinian Wine O’ Clock: consciousness and it caught on. After 120 years Toro Wine Paradise will still live on. This is the new space for wine lovers in the city. Wine O’ Clock has inaugurated a new wine bar right next to their old location, with more space and special tastings happening all the time. The company added a wine dispenser that allows tasting by the glass and they’re expecting another by February. There are many events for people hungry for knowledge. We especially recommend their Winemaker Nights with a local winemaker attending to present their elixir and explain how it is made. Their new tasting room and courtyard are perfect for drinks. They had a recent gin tasting with Príncipe de los Apóstoles which is a Mate flavoured gin from a local producer in Mendoza (mate is an Argentinian infusion consumed from a gourd with a metallic straw). We learned how to make the perfect gin and tonic and explained what it takes to produce gin. It made for an incredible evening. 5 The Faded Grandeur of Maipú Once a boom town with some of the biggest wineries in the World, Maipu has an opulent past. Gabriela Raimondo looks into the past through a camera lense. The mid 1800s and beginning of 1900s marked a time up with Gerónimo Bautista Gargantini who was his of immigrants and their dreams coming true in Maipú, brother-in-law. They founded La Colina de Oro which Mendoza. Multitudes from Europe embarked on a was one of the most successful and biggest businesses journey to the American dream. We know the story well in the history of Maipú. In 1914 after amassing a huge enough from Hollywood movies. But what happened to fortune he decided to retire to Italy where he bought an the people who didn’t go through Ellis Island and instead impressive amount of hectares and built a winery. The came to Buenos Aires? last time he came to Mendoza was 1934. He died in Udine in 1936. Many came to Mendoza and settled in Maipú to start out in the wine industry. They were the forefathers of the Gerónimo Bautista Gargantini was born in 1861 in Ticino, huge industry that we still enjoy today. Some returned to Switzerland. In 1883 and because of economic issues their home countries as soon as they made enough money he decided to come to Mendoza. He started work as a and some remained. The opulence and splendour these builder until he had a bit more capital and he put up a men and women created and lived in are still present in station selling cold cuts in the Central Market. In 1890 he Maipú. The decadence of the many abandoned wineries partnered with Pascual Toso and married Oliva Bondino make for a photographers paradise. in 1896. He then decided to partner with his brother-in- law and start up with La Colina de Oro. In 1911, in the One of the most famous examples (open for visitors every midst of the company’s rise he decided to retire and sell day) is The National Museum of Wine and Harvest. The his part of the company to Giol. He reserved a portion of old mansions that belonged to Juan Giol and Bautista his estates in the east, in Rivadavia, for his son Bautista Gargantini are magnificent and represent a time of pomp and returned to Switzerland and built 5 palaces in Lugano and grandeur. Lake where he died in 1937. Juan Giol was born in Vigonovo in Udine, Italy in 1867. How did these men achieve to copy the splendour of He worked in jobs not related to viticulture. In 1887, he European palaces so far away from home? There is only decided to immigrate to Argentina (legend says he was a one answer: the train. The San Martin Railway (1886) stowaway) and established himself in Mendoza. The first came from Buenos Aires all the way to Gutierrez in few years he worked at Trapiche which was owned at that Maipú. In 1902 when the construction of the Gargantini time by another very famous immigrant called Tiburcio and Giol’s houses began, everything was shipped in from Benegas. He rented his first vineyard in 1890 and he met Europe. If you visit the old wineries in Maipú, you will his future wife Margarita Bondino. In 1896 he partnered still admire the antique floors and ceiling in the early 6 Maipú 7 1900s European style as well as the old oak casks brought A trip to the past through the Metrotranvia in from staves from France and built in place since they were too large to move. Such huge expenditure was It was a titanic task to build a railway that came from easily afforded by two men who had created the biggest Buenos Aires to Maipú but it was certainly the biggest and most successful winery in the World. reason for the area’s wealth. At the beginning of the 1900s colossal wineries such as La Colina de Oro, Lopez The amazing print La Colina de Oro and later on Giol left and Trapiche needed to have their wines transported as in Maipú was the urbanization of the area. Most locals fast as possible, so the train and the wineries have a long worked for the winery at one point or other of their lives. tradition in Gutierrez. The old station there, now home of When the production of wine increased vertiginously the Metrotranvía (trolley car), shows evidence of these the current Ozamis street and the area towards the times of hard labour and immense reward. train began to be populated and the development of the neighbourhood was incredible. Commerce began As passengers now descend the Metrotranvía at the to thrive and the winery was its focal point. The last station, bits of the past come to life. The old sign neighbourhoods are filled with houses that tried to evoke indicating the last stop of a very long journey, and the the palatial spirit of the old mansions. decaying buildings add the feeling of nostalgia. The old water tanks are rusted and the once roaring warehouse is now silent. The marks of the old wine duct tell the Reviving the San Martin Train story of the times when the wineries would fill the barrels being transported on the trains with the use of a In 2017, the President Mauricio Macri came to metal pipe that would go from the concrete tanks to the an agreement with China to invest US2.400 train station.