Argentine Wines: Why Cabernet?

As Tom (via his wife's blog) reported, our group of expat beer drinkers got together at friends house to try something different: A wine tasting. Instead of arguing about the nuances of blonds, blacks and tans, we spent the evening learning about Banardas and Malbecs.

Daniel Karlin hosted the event at his apartment. He has started a new venture called Anuva Vinos. Anuva hosts small intimate wine tastings here in Buenos Aires and features unique, hand crafted wines form some of the best small, hard-to-find bodegas in Argentina. They also make the wines available to order in the United States and Europe from their store on their web site.

I love wine almost as much as I love beer. My family was lucky enough to spend a month in Mendoza touring vineyards and sampling many different wines. So spending the evening with my beer drinking buddies sipping wine was a no brainer.

Of the five wines featured, one was a Cabernet. Not surprisingly, it was the least favorite of the four reds we tasted. Why are Cabernets in Argentina consistently bad when compared to the Cabernets made just across the Andes in Chile?

When I was a poor college student in Austin, I learned early that a good bottle of wine could greatly increase my chances of getting lucky later that night. I would impress dates by ordering a Santa Rita Cabernet or Casillero del Diablo Cabernet from Chile. They were very good and more important at the time—very cheap.

I just don't think you're going to impress many women by pouring an Argentine Cabernet. Why is that when they Cabernets from Chile come from the same mountain range and the Malbecs from here are so good?

As Daniel pointed out, The pacific side of the Andes provides more rain and humidity allowing the Chilean Cabernets to flourish. The Argentine side is much drier and favors the Malbec.

If I were back in college now and trying to impress my dates, I would pour a good Argentine Malbec like the Ikella Malbec that Anuva features. The Argentina Malbec is the best grape being grown anywhere. And you can't beat its price.

Anyone out there know of an Argentina Cab that is good and can give the Chileans some real competition?

O. Fournier

One of our favorite bodegas in the Valle de Uco (Uco Valley) region of Mendoza is a small boutique bodega called O. Fournier.

O. Fournier is named after the spanish owners, the family of Ortega Gil-Fournier. It looks like a french name, but is spanish and pronounced as four-knee-air, not four-knee-ay.

Wow! We were blown away by our visit.



First, the place is a wild looking modern masterpiece. It rises above the surrounding vineyards and looks more like a UFO launching pad than a winery.

But the design is a masterpiece of technology and architecture with a single purpose—to use gravity and not machines to process the grapes and avoid pumping and introducing harmful oxygen into the process.

Second, our guide was friendly, warm and passionate about O.Fournier's wine and philosophy. This was in stark contrast to our guide at Salentein from earlier in the day.

Finally, O. Fournier's flagship wine, the 2002 Alfa Curx blend was awarded a Wine Spectator rating of 93 and was rated as #86 of the top 100 wines.



So when we got to the tasting room, were we given some low end experiment that they had unsold inventory of like at Salentein? No. We were given tastings of their two flagship Alpha Crux wines—the blend and the Malbec.

And man were they good.

The spanish are fond of their Tempranilo grape. O. Fournier thought the conditions of the Uco Valley would be good for Tempranilo. And if they blended it with Malbec, they could make a wine that was differentiated from the 1000s of Malbecs being made here.



Their gamble paid off. I don't know how much is due to the grape and how much is due to the marvel of architecture and the innovative technology built into their winery.

The ramps you see in the first picture bring the grapes up one story above the ground where gravity does its gentle magic on the grapes and minimizes the need for machines and pumps.



Gravity helps the wine through all of the wine making process until its final resting place in the cellar 3 stories underground.

Not only is O. Fournier's technology innovative, it is beautiful to look at. They have perfected the art of wine making to a minimalist modern masterpiece.

Bodegas Salentein

This week, we made the trek down to the Uco Valley about an hour and half south of Mendoza to visit the the bodegas of Salentein and O Fournier.

Both were designed by the same architect and are a tribute to the fine art of modern winemaking. The first up on our trip was Bodegas Salentein. (I'll blog about O Fournier later. )

Salentein is situated at the foothills to the Andes and is on route 89 near the town of Tupungato. It is a long hike from Mendoza especially given the fact that there are hundreds of other bodegas within a short taxi ride from downtown. The hike is well worth it. Though not for the winery tour.



Salentein is large and their operations on the bodega include Killka—a fabulous modern art museum and large restaurant, Posada Salentein—an estancia/inn, and a small chapel. Oh yes, and the winery.

When we showed up, we had to pass through the art museum to check in. Although we were the only visitors and there were several employees, the only ones willing to speak to us were the imposing security guards that looked more like they were ready for the next military junta than security detail at a winery.



When one of the Salentein soldiers... I mean guards finally showed us where to go, we started our tour with a young twenty something guide who schpeeled the corporate line with about as much enthusiasm as a Koala bear on qualudes.

Salentein has some great premium malbecs and even some great low end malbecs. But were we offered any of the good stuff to sample? No. They pushed on us an O.K. Sauvignon Blanc and a miserable 2007 Merlot.

Our boring tour guide could of won an Oscar for the convincing lines he spewed about how great the Merlot was. We drove all this way to sample some of the best Malbecs from Argentina and were offered this crap?



The wine tour was a let down given our friends from The Vines claimed, "at this cross shaped monument to winemaking, guides conduct dramatic tastings from behind an impressive marble alter."

There was nothing dramatic about it.

Don't get me wrong. As cold and sterile as the place is and as bad as the wine tour was, it is still worth the trip to Salentein especially if you are in the Valle de Uco region.



The restaurant was outstanding and had some awesome views of the Andes. I can't imagine what it looks like in the winter, spring and fall with snow covering most of the mountains.



Modern art and architecture lovers will like the place too. There is wonderful art throughout the property and The Killka museum was impressive. The place was designed by the same architect that designed our favorite Uco Valley bodega, O Fournier. The cellar in both feature his trademark cross shaped design.

The Vines of Mendoza

Any wine trip to Mendoza should begin and end at The Vines of Mendoza. The Vines is a great tasting room and information center right off the main plaza and across the street from the Park Hyatt.

I am ashamed to admit that we had been here a week already and had not made it to a single bodega (i.e. winery—the Argentines us a different word for everything here!).

That doesn't mean we haven't been educating ourselves on the best of Argentine wines. The Vines has been a great place to get our bearings on who's who of wine in Argentina.


Our first visit to The Vines was on our second day in Mendoza. We popped in that afternoon to have a good glass of wine to relax and escape the heat. They introduced us to a great Malbec from MonteCinco. It was wonderfully complex with intense oak flavors.

Our next night, we returned for their Monday night cheese and wine pairings. This was a great way to be introduced to some great wines beyond the ubiquitous Malbec. However, the cheese alone was worth the entry price.

Tuesday night we payed for one of their exclusive tastings in their private tasting room.

We highly recommend The Vines as an essential resource for learning about the 100's of great wines from around Medoza and Argentina. They can even recommend and book tours of the best local wineries.