MALBEC IN MENDOZA
As Gerrie Lim discovers, Argentina’s Uco Valley and Luján de Cuyo are the finest places for wine cultivation
How on earth, I wonder, did this place become Argentina’s wine citadel, with nearly 1,000 of the country’s approximately 1,400 wineries located here? We’re in Mendoza in late February, observing the beginning of the harvest in the foothills of the Andes mountains, an actual area of 14.6 million hectares – yet, less than 5 percent of it is covered by grapevines. The vineyards are about 1,200m above sea level and 1,600km inland from the Atlantic Ocean, with what the locals call “sunlight density” – sharp, dazzling and rather riveting. In particular, the regions of Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, especially the latter’s district of Gualtallary, lend themselves best to wine cultivation.
We first visit Andeluna in Gualtallary, a vineyard framed by the Tupungato mountains. The estate’s name is a “very romantic expression that roughly means ‘ moon of the Andes’,” says its 43-year-old ceo, Federico Lardone, with a laugh. “Our property is 80ha, and we have malbec, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc here. Rain is less than 200 to 220mm a year, so we need drip irrigation.”
His winemaker, Manuel Gonzáles, 45, who has been doing this since 1995, shows off the Altitud line, which Lardone says “is what makes us different, particularly the malbec and cabernet sauvignon”.
In the US, Andeluna’s most important market, the Altitud Malbec 2016 received 92 points from British Master of Wine Tim Atkin, who also awarded the Pasionado Malbec 2015, from the winery’s top line Pasionado, 93 points. Pasionado, Lardone shares, “is wine made with passion” and has three products: malbec, cabernet franc and cuatro cepas. The last, which means “four varietals”, is a blend of malbec, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot; the colour is darker and more purple than the rest in the Pasionado family, and it is more concentrated, with smaller berries. “For Altitud, Manuel chooses the best block and for Pasionado, he chooses the best row,“Lardone explains. “He will say to keep them separated because they are the best parts.”
Lardone pours two already- decanted cuatro cepas – 2004 and 2015 (the 2004 is infinitely better) – and over lunch, we drink the Altitud Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 as we tuck into goat confit and apples, before moving on to the Pasionado Cuatro Cepas 2015 with a filet mignon and zucchini risotto – a fitting pairing.
BIG BOYS AND THE INDEPENDENTS
Our next stop is Trapiche ( pronounced “tra-pi- chay”, it is French for “old wine press”); founded in 1883, it is the oldest still-functioning winery in Mendoza. We meet the man in charge: Italian winemaker Sergio Case, 45, who has been with the company since 1999. “We have 1,300ha across Mendoza,” he says, “and every year, we buy 1,500ha more. Grupo Peñaflor (Argentina’s largest wine producer) exports around five and a half million cases per year, and Trapiche accounts for four million cases – we’re big!”
He starts us off with the La Mascota 2017, a malbec from Mascota Vineyards, which Trapiche owns. “The soil is near the Mendoza River, with a lot of rock producing vanilla and cherry. We use French and American oak, 12 months in the barrel, so it’s quite spicy.” He informs me that “legally, if you have a maximum of 15 percent of other varietals, you can still say it’s a malbec – others do this, with small quantities of syrah, for instance. Any more and you have to say it’s a blend. Malbec is more tannic and denser, as the grapes come from the mountain – high altitude gives us a little more acidity.”
Then, he pours us the Finca Ambrosía Malbec 2014 from Trapiche’s Terroir Series, the winery’s core portfolio range that pays tribute to the best Argentinian grape growers. “We use 100 percent malbec from Ambrosia, one of the best independent growers,” he shares, “This is a single-vineyard wine made in Gualtallary, at 1,400m above sea level. We produce 2,000 cases from just 2.5ha and you can feel the silky tannins, juicy with nice colour.”
The last wine is from Trapiche’s top range, Iscay (it means “two” in the old Quechua native language): the 2013 MalbecCabernet Franc, which is 70 percent malbec from Gualtallary and 30 percent cabernet franc from La Consulta. “Cabernet franc is grown in only about 930ha in Argentina, which is 0.4 percent of the country’s total vine,” he says. “I hand-pick the grapes and put them separately into new French oak barrels for 12 months. After that, I combine them in the same barrel for another six months. It’s then 24 months, minimum, in the bottle. That was the first time we received 99 points from wine critic James Suckling.”
EXPRESSION OF THE TERROIR
There is an amazing third winery to visit: Susana Balbo Wines in Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, whose owner Susana was the first formally trained female winemaker in Argentina. The 63-year- old started out 38 years ago in Salta, a province in the north, and after seven years there, moved down to Mendoza. Up till three years ago, her winery was called Dominio del Plata. “We produce two million litres of wine per year and we export 96 percent of that,” she shares. It’s incredulous.
The unusual netting on the vines catches my eye. “We protect our vineyards with hail nets,” she explains, “to prevent damage from hailstorms. At this time of the year, hailstones can be the size of an egg and can destroy a year of hard work.”
Susana specialises in torrontes, an aromatic and spicy white wine, but I love her brioso reds, which is 45 percent cabernet sauvignon, 25 percent cabernet franc, 25 percent malbec and 5 percent petit verdot. The Brioso 2015 we drink at lunch is paired with a crunchy piece of goat, apples, fennel and Andean baby potatoes, and is delicious. The best red wine for me, though, is her Benmarco Expresivo 2016, which is 80 percent malbec and 20 percent cabernet franc. The grapes are from Gualtallary and spend 14 months in French oak barrels, with an alcohol percentage of 14.3.
“We don’t want to do a lot of intervention in the vineyard,” she says. “Expresivo is about the ‘expression’ of terroir, and you can see all the benefits that Gualtallary gives to the wine. It goes well with fatty meat and game because its tense acidity and firm tannins cleanse the palate, and invites you for a second sip!”
Certainly, malbec isn’t shy but occasionally does need cabernet franc to show itself better, like in the Iscay and the Pasionado – and the way a second sip always does for me.