NoBullGrape

Argentina Everywhere!

Seems like Dr. Vino and Vineography visited Argentina in the last week and enjoyed themselves a great deal.  As we found, this country and its wines really are exciting.

Dr. Vino:
Mendoza's terroir
Alta Vista Torrontes
Argentine wine photos
Parilla
Mendoza, high desert

Vineography:
Reviews of Argintinean wine, Part I
Bodegas (multiple)
What's Wrong with America
Reviews of Argintinean wine, Part II
He also provides a breath taking view of his meal at Cabana Las Lilas.  Please note we found many other restaurants in Buenos Aires that were superior to this one.  However, as far as tourist traps go, this is not a bad restaurant.

At some point there became a pretty clear line between wine journalists who flew and traveled on the dime of the region they were covering and those who paid their own way (Wine Spectator, NYT, etc.) to maintain objectivity.  I don't think bloggers are at this point yet, but very interesting that Dr. Vino was traveling with Wines of Argentina.

Starting the new year with Corie Brown

Happy New Year!
After a longer than expected hiatus, we are back. The end of the vacation from the blog (and things like work) is prompted by: a. real life schedule and b. Corie Brown's article on Mendoza and Paul Hobbs in this Sunday's LA Times.  As life is not so interesting, this post will focus on Ms. Brown's article titled "Putting Place in a Glass."

In particular, want to focus on how much impact one person (or even a few people) can have on defining "place" in the wine world.  Mendoza is a perfect example because, as the LA Times story states,

Politically isolated and economically crippled by its tumultuous history of erratic despots, Argentina and its wine industry were frozen in their last hopeful decade, the 1930s. As for the wines, they were pure plonk—oxidized elixirs made in decrepit wineries and sold by the jug for a few pesos. Argentines drank them by the barrel, unaware that wine could taste different, much less better.

Then came Paul Hobbs.  I'm always wary of such stories as all wine growing seems to be a community based activity, yet the LA Times says that Hobbs had a big influence on the changes that took place in what is now one of the most interesting wine growing regions in the world. 

Hobbs, so the story goes, taught them about pruning, oak barrels, oxygenation, etc.  He even sent some of them to California to learn about US winemaking practices. 

In the end, he makes some of Argentina's best wines.  Personally think they are too heavy in alcohol, but that is not relevant as his Los Cobos continues to impress critics year-after-year despite its extraordinarily high price -- $150.   

Yet did he really "Put place in the glass" as the LA Times claims?
By capturing the essence of a particular place, I am convinced that Hobbs clearly makes wines that could only come from Mendoza. 

However, is he the standard bearer for all of Mendoza? I'm not sure for the following reasons:

1. He is not really an industry leader -- I would expect this list of names to include Catena, Archaval-Ferrer, Susana Balbo, and the leaders of Altos Los Hormigas, Terrazas, Salentein, Ruca Malen and even Luigi Bosca. 
2. He makes a tiny amount of wine.
3. His best wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, not the Malbec that distinguishes Argentine wine.  In fact, Hobbs is quoted as saying ""You have to make a great Cabernet to be taken seriously."

So why is featured in the LA Times?
Why not a Catena or some of the smaller Argentine winemakers who are well known yet better epitomize the struggle of making wine in Argentina?  Because Hobbs has made it in the States and is a bit of a hometown story for the Times (Sonoma isn't Orange County, but you get the idea).

Yet, despite its flaws, this story is a great window into the perspective of one winemaker in a new land as well as the massive changes that Argentina's wine region have undergone in the last 10 years... making it one of the great places to watch. 

Up and coming Argentina

Haven't been asleep at the wheel... just lots of work, etc.  In addition I've been thinking a lot about Argentina's role/future in the wine world.  As I said previously, we had an amazing trip down there.  The wine, the people, Mendoza, Buenos Aires... all great.  They make world-class wine, yet I've been wondering how they are going to fit into the wine world of the future.
The investment that we saw in Mendoza was largely Argentine and European.  With Kendall-Jackson's departure from its Tapiz venture, there are few major US wine producers influencing the region.  The biggest exception is probably Paul Hobbs, a "flying winemaker" who has jumped in with both feet.
Examples of major European investment include:
Salentine (Dutch ownership), Altavista (French) and O. Fournier (Spanish). Clearly, one cannot have a conversation about Mendoza without mentioning Catena, etc.  In addition, there are a great number of very cool, smaller Argentine winemakers who show enormous promise (please see Dr. Vino's blog and his entries about Susana Balbo as a great example of this).  As you would expect, I’ll hop over the bulk players like Trapiche, Norton, etc. much in the way that I would hop over Gallo when discussing sparkling wine.
The major quandaries for wines from Mendoza are:

• lack of knowledge about Argentina and Argentina as a winemaking country
• lack of knowledge about its primary red grape – Malbec 
• a lack of major English speaking marketers.

Yet they have some amazing advantages:

• Price (with the peso to dollar exchange at about 2.8 and lower land and labor prices than anything I have seen in the industry they can keep their prices competitive for a long time). 

• Amazing land and location – the semi-arid dessert climate watered by highly managed Andean runoff makes it look like Walla Walla with water. 

• Determination.  Every wine region has determined winemakers and community support.  Mendoza has as much, if not more, than I’ve ever seen.  It may be partially borne by their cyclical economy or the

• Budding high-end tourism industry that will help spread the word.  Just think Napa 30 years ago and how influential the visitors to the region have been in preaching Napa’s virtues since then.  Limitless Argentina is a good example of this – for the wine region and the country as a whole.

The real question is how the pros and the cons will play out. In the end, it may be that all of the players will need to work together to put Mendoza and Malbec on the map as a quality region and grape as opposed to exclusively focusing on brands… something that many well established wine regions continue to struggle with… before their individual labels will take off and compete effectively for shelf space and consumer “mindshare” in the US.

Mmmm, Malbec

As I said before, had a great visit to Argentina.
At the heart of the experience was great people, a great country and great wine.
Finally got the chance to spend some real time comparing different Malbecs and understanding the challenges and opportunities that an emerging wine region has to handle.
Having just been there thought that Corie Brown's article in Friday's LA Times (free registration) on the region was noteworthy.

Here's an excerpt.

HOW Malbec evolved into such a charmer in Argentina remains a bit of an enological mystery. The clues lie in a combination of terroir, Darwinian selection and the influence of international consultants bent on modernizing a calcified wine industry.

"Something strange happened to Malbec in the soils and climate of Argentina. It mutated," says Steve Clifton, a Santa Ynez Valley winemaker whose Palmina and Brewer-Clifton wines have made him one of that region's tastemakers. Clifton, who along with Joe Bastianich (co-owner with Mario Batali of several restaurants in New York and wineries in Italy) has partnered with Mayol, is one of a handful of outsiders staking a claim in Mendoza. "It's all about the climate," says Clifton.

Visiting Mendoza in the dead of winter — August in the Southern Hemisphere — is like a trip to the surface of the moon. It's cold, with temperatures dipping below freezing. The vines, stripped of their leaves, are skinny twigs sticking up out of the rocky, gray desert soils. Even the oldest plants look undernourished.

In the spring, salvation comes from the towering, snow-capped Andes stretching along the western horizon. The snowmelt flows down to the desert following ancient trench lines first laid out by the Incas. When February's late-summer sun threatens to bake the vineyards, afternoon breezes rush down from the mountains to cool the grapes, saving them from becoming raisins before harvest in March and April.

Great places need great people

One of the hopes of this blog is to not only focus on the great winegrowing locations of the world, but the people who are behind some of the best wines that come from these places.   In part, I have been inspired by a recent blog that announced they will be following the path of an Argentine winemaker, a distributor and a retailer for a year.  This will provide a great insight on three views on the wine business.  I urge you to join me in following The Real Wine World,.  I have visited Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky at the Dominio del Plata winery outside of Mendoza, Argentina.  I am very excited that they will be the winery that will be followed for a year.    Pedro and Susana are gifted growers and winemakers who are commited to making the most out of the land they have bought in Mendoza (yes, it is as breathtaking as this picture makes it out to be).  Their wine is great and their perspective over the next year should make for an interesting story.