Mendoza, Argentina

The grape fruit
Masters of the Universe
What do you have to do to be a Master of Food and Wine? Apparently sign up for the Park Hyatt Mendoza´s Masters of Food and Wine extravaganza. This four-day series of culinary events is the biggest gourmet blockbuster ever to hit Mendoza and is attracting global attention. Well-known wine writers, infamous foodies and notorious bon vivants are flying into this province to experience what promises to be an epicurean blow-out of gastronomical proportions. Star chefs from all over the world will be demonstrating their art in Mendoza´s best wineries and winery lodges. Simultaneously a wine fair takes place in the Park Hyatt. Events run from February the 15th to the 18th.

Expose yourself to Expo
It has often been noted that Mendoza´s Wine Harvest Festival can be a little short on wine. Vendimia is all about street theatre, parades and beauty queens. Often the only wine in hand is a Tetrapak launched from a winery float by an over-enthusuastic girl in a sash. This year however sees the opening of the first Expo Vinos en Vendimia. The four-day event promises to be the wine jamboree that we have all been waiting for. Premier tastings, an art show, live jazz and a wine auction are just some of the events planned in Palmares Open Mall from the 1st to the 4th of March.

Happy Paddys
What do winemakers drink when they are socialising? Beer apparently and lots of it. For this reason, The Grapevine, in association with Irish winery (you read correctly - Irish winery) El Commandante have decided to do their piece for the community and organise a Saint Patrick's Day Festival. Live music, beer and shiny blow-up shamrocks are planned for the weekend beginning the 16th March. The venues: Finsin, Lupolo and the Irish Bar.

Neighbours
Inmobiliaria is a word many foreigners have a problem with and it is not just because it is unpronounceable. Real estate agents here are notorious for bumping up the price when dealing with non-Argentines as a kind of punishment for our bad Spanglish. Rental agencies are also prone to charging three times what the locals pay if the potential tenant has the indecency to wear badly pressed shorts and flip-flops. Add to this the requirement that a foreigner must find a gullible Mendocino father-in-law super quick to sign a document promising he will pay your bills and the whole flat-hunting venture can be challenging indeed. A new company called Lugar intends solving this problem. It specialises in renting fully furnished apartments in Mendoza City Centre to foreign people who wish to live here. No garantias are required, nor commissions paid and the rents are the same as what the locals pay.

Group Therapy
It is a terrible affliction and affects many. You find yourself in Mendoza for a few days only and want to try as much good wine as possible. The problem is most of the restaurants sell only mediocre wine by the glass and it is not practical to buy too much good stuff as it all comes by the bottle. You find yourself in the absolutely tortuous situation of being surrounded by great wine but unable to try all of it. It just so happens that The Grapevine runs a support group for sufferers of this problem. It is called The Grapevine Wine Tasting Evening and it gathers every Monday night at 7pm. Everybody contributes 90 pesos, and with this loot we raid the higher shelves of Marcelino Winestore for wines normally reserved for millionaires and moguls.

Stormy Weather
The 2007 harvest has got off to a rocky start with wild New Year weather prompting Uco Valley department San Carlos to declare a climatic emergency. A prolonged hail storm late on January 26th affected 500 hectares and spared few of the region's growers.Hail is a grape-grower's worst nightmare and this year many in Mendoza province have been hit, with the south suffering worst. Producers in General Alvear reported 60 to 100% crop losses, and in San Rafael, where stones as big as tennis balls battered 3000 hectares, tourists reportedly fled in panic and physical damage alone was estimated at 17 million pesos.While the weather has been a disaster for unlucky individual growers, wine lovers need not cry into their copas. Mendoza's bodegas are well prepared for hail and source their fruit from a broad zone so hail losses won't put a dampner on what industry insiders are tipping as a classic vintage.

The Best from Both Sides of The Andes

Montes, one of South America´s most pioneering wineries, is now operating in Mendoza. Charles Pestridge reveals all.

In the early eighties three men. Aurelio Montes, Douglas Murray and Alfredo Vidaurre found themselves working together for San Pedro winery in Chile. Between the three they had winemaking, sales and finance skills and these were put to very good use, to the point where this once struggling winery is now one of the largest in Chile.
It soon became obvious to all three that Chile must start producing better quality wine and look towards exporting to the world, as domestic consumption had dropped to a quarter of what it once was.
Consequently the three formed the company Discover Wines, with only $65,000 between them and teamed up with the fourth founding partner Pedro Grand, who owned a small winery in Curico. The four partners were adamant from day one that they could and furthermore would only produce export quality wines. The company name was subsequently changed to Montes Wines.

"It was considered that South America generally speaking was only capable of producing table wine at best and plonk at worst"

In 1988 their first wine was bottled under their own label. The following year they introduced their first Alpha wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon, which very clearly showed the world that Chile could produce barrel-aged wine that would cellar well for up to ten years and more importantly it fitted what we now call the US$20 bracket. The year 1996 saw Aurelio produce Chile´s first ever super premium wine Montes Alpha M, which entered the all-important USA market with a US$50 price tag and was rapidly destined to enter the 92 (plus) point category. The move was met with both scepticism and derision by some of the world´s more informed wine press. It was considered that South America generally speaking was only capable of producing table wine at best and plonk at worst, which at the time was a fairly accurate assessment.
Early in the company´s history the decision had been made that the world was wide open for wine and that Montes should export to every country where wine consumption was, or could, become a cultural norm. This was contrary to conventional wisdom at the time, which said, only export to the established, known customers. By this time it was becoming very evident that Douglas had a spectacular flair for marketing wine and this dove-tailed perfectly with Aurelio´s rising star as a winemaker, par eccellence. In fact Douglas went on to introduce Chilean wine to the Japanese and consequently was accorded the grand title "The godfather of Chilean wine".

"Colleagues within the wine industry considered the move ... pure folly"

In 1993 Montes purchased a run-down fruit orchard in a small, unheard of part of Colchagua valley, 200 kms south of Santiago. With the land came a whole 1000-metre In high, forested, steep mountain face, which Aurelio had spotted way back in the ´70s. They set about clearing the forest, planting proven vinestock and installing drip irrigation. Colleagues within the wine industry considered the move to be somewhat eccentric, if not absolutely crazy; in a nutshell - pure folly, as the traditional vineyards were always planted on absolutely level ground, with flood irrigation. Why invest a small fortune being different when everybody else is making money being conventional? Subsequently, in 2002 Montes Folly was launched, a 100% Syrah, coming from a traditional "Cab" country. It entered the market as another US$50 wine and was awarded a 92 point rating by only its second vintage - unheard of before, particularly in South America.

"Superb teamwork that produces great wines"

In 2001 Montes set-up in Mendoza, concentrating on the exciting Malbec as well as the more conservative (and well known) Cabernet Sauvignon. Kaiken Malbec and Kaiken Cabernet Sauvignon entered the international market in the US$10 price-point. By the following year Ultra Kaiken wines were launched, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, both distinctly different from their Chilean counterparts and both complementing the very successful $20 Alpha range. Kaiken Wines now own 150 planted acres and a new winery is being built in Mendoza. In the meantime high quality grapes are being sourced from local growers, with both Aurelio and his bright resident winemaker in Mendoza, Cristobal Underraga, overseeing the state-of-the-art vine management.
In 2003 Montes was proclaimed New World Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast magazine, the first South American winery to be so recognized. Today the company exports twenty times as many cases as was the original target of 30,000 cases and the wine is going to 76 countries. The excellent, highly informative South American reference book Austral Spectator rated Aurelio Montes as having six out of the top seventy wines from the continent, three from Colchagua valley in Chile and three from Mendoza.
This alone speaks volumes for the man´s flair, ability and understanding of what the informed wine drinker wants. As Aurelio readily admits, success on both sides of the Andes is the result of having a great team of people. Montes is blessed with a great top-line management group, Andres Turner (general management), Victor Baeza (operations), Carlos Serrano (exports) and Rodrigo Barria (agronomist), all of whom support the founding partners and brains behind this exciting and hugely successful South American winery group. It is, after all is said and done, superb teamwork that produces great wines and this group will continue to do so on both sides of the Andes for a long time, Bacchus willing.

Drive, chip, putt and pour

Luke McMahon sees if Viñas del Golf is up to par.

Winston Churchill famously described golf as an ineffectual attempt to direct an uncontrollable sphere into an inaccessible hole with instruments ill-adapted to the purpose.
But the man who also said his absolute sacred rite was the drinking of alcohol before, after, and if need be during all meals and the intervals between them would surely have agreed that if you are going to play golf, then a vineyard is the best possible place to do it.
Viñas del Golf in San Rafael, is home to a brand-new 150,000 litre capacity winery, 300 hectares of grapevines and fruit orchards, and a 9-hole golf course weaving its way through the finca.
Owner Ricardo Jurado came in 1995 to build a new golf course. Like so many who arrive in Mendoza province, he fell in love with the land and decided to indulge his twin passions of golf and wine.
Carrying with him the legacy of 1920s and 30s Argentine professional golfing legend José Jurado, Ricardo's course is a carefully designed and exquisitely manicured field of dreams (or nightmares, depending on your skill level) replete with water hazards, lakes, trees and dog-legs. There's also a driving range, chipping and putting green and golf instructor on hand if you need to get your eye in before teeing off.
Here the wine is right up to par too. 60-year-old vines are complemented by newer plantings, covering most of the usual varieties and some types less frequently seen in Mendoza such as Petite Verdot, Semillon, Pinot Noir and Gamay Noir. From these, Bodega Ricardo Jurado is currently producing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Bonarda as varietals at 85%, and a Grand Blend which is a blend of the four varietal grapes that slightly favours Merlot on the percentages.
The best way to enjoy both golf and wine is to stay on site at the historic lodge. Built in 1921, it's been completely refurbished into three suites retaining the character of the cane-roofed and adobe-walled building. A further nine suites and a conference centre are under construction.
There is a library, pool, wireless internet and satellite TV. If that's not enough, Viñas del Golf will also arrange spa treatments and visits to the region's other premium bodegas.

Strange as it sounds, it´s actually easier to buy a property in Mendoza than rent one. The garantia requirement has many potential foreign residents pulling their hair with frustration and they soon realise to buy outright is less of a headache. Even so, a real estate purchase can also be fraught with difficulties, especially if it is a vineyard you are after. Water rights, security, access and soil conditions are all issues that dampen a buyer's initial enthusiasm (fired by cheap land prices and a dream of making their own wine). Many realise it is not just a case of putting their money down.
You have also got to get around tiresome rules such as one where foreigners are forbidden to buy land in a border area. This is apparently because the powers-that-be fear we might build a motorway through a valley and let a division of Chilean tanks trundle through. All said, acquiring land is a complicated waltz with lawyers, builders and notaries.

"Valle de Uco struck them as `Napa 1961"

Enter Southern Cross Land, a managed vineyard company who have recently opened a showroom on Chile 1247. Here you´ll find a one-stop shop that makes your real estate dreams real; a kind of dating agency for a vine romance. A visitor smitten with the idea of owning a patch of malbec will find 3D models of their vineyard homes, an architect to design it, a lawyer to negotiate the deal and experts in vineyard purchase and management to ensure they get exactly what they want. By the time they reach the top floor they will be a few thousand dollars lighter but bonafide owners of gold medal wine country with the wine to boot. The only thing Southern Cross Land cannot guarantee is that your wine gets 92 points with Wine Spectator.

The project is the brainchild of two Americans, John Ecklund and Stephen Vletas, and their Italian partners Fillippo Invernizzi and Giuseppe Omegna. Ecklund and Vletas are veteran flyfishing operators who helped put Patagonia on the trout lover's map. They came to Mendoza before the tourism boom and spotted the huge potential the area offered.
"I remember visiting Zuccardi when they didn´t do visits and wine tourism was just a vague idea," remarks Ecklund, a laidback Californian. Now Zuccardi has a visitor centre, Art gallery, gift shop and a hugely popular restaurant.
To prove there are no flies on these flyfishers, the two men immediately began snapping up land, particularly in Valle de Uco, which struck them as "Napa 1961".
Invernizzi and Omegna are also fishing aficionados, this time in Cuba where they own three major sport fishing leases and operate a fleet of angling boats for tourists. Ecklund and Vletas hooked up with the Italians over 15 years ago when they started sending them American clients who had caught the Hemingway bug. When their Italian partners found out about their Argentine land purchases, they in turn caught the malbec bug and immediately jumped on board, Agrelo being cheaper than Tuscany.
"Fillippo bought site unseen," explains Ecklund. "He eventually came and had a look. When I offered to buy back he told me to get lost. Instead he closed his Italian operation and moved here full time.
"In the meantime Ecklund and Vletas had built two hotels in Mendoza - luxury lodges in Chacras de Coria and Valle de Uco. They called the company Postales del Plata and started attracting Americans in search of comfort and wine.
"Lots of clients fell in love with Mendoza and were suddenly asking about property," continues Ecklund.
"We showed them what we had and people started buying. Before we knew it we had fifteen foreign neighbours around our Valle de Uco lodge and all were extremely happy”.
The four men decided to concentrate on buying, developing and building rural hideaways. Soon they had a portfolio of over 200 hectares and they formed the company Southern Cross Land. The main parcel of paradise they are currently offering is called Villa Dolce Vita, a 61-hectare farm of 25 lots in the leafy sub- region of Vistaflores in Valle de Uco.

"You get a sense of rural tradition and Mother Nature"

"The interesting thing," continues Ecklund, " is our properties are not the virgin territories favoured by other managed vineyard operators. Villa Dolce Vita is an old abandoned farm, criss-crossed with hedges and trails and bordered by a river, so you get a sense of rural tradition and Mother Nature."
The showroom and offices are the next step in the company´s game plan. Here they´ll display what Villa Dolce Vita has to offer, such as a clubhouse and spa and all the amenities required by globetrotting babyboomers.
"We basically get three types of investors," explains Ecklund. "Primarily the well-travelled American who wants to kick back and enjoy the lifestyle this area has to offer. Next we get the pure investor who spots the great future Mendoza has and finally, that person with a little bit of both - a desire to retire in style and still make a little money. I should know, I´m one of them!"

The Conquistadores missed many things from their homeland, amongst them wine. As soon as they could, they brought vine shoots from the old world to the new, primarily Mexico and then Peru. The first vines in Mendoza probably came across the mountains from Chile.

Wine was also an essential beverage for the clergy. Monks and missionaries needed it to perform the Mass (well that was their excuse anyway). In 1557, a Father Cidron of the Mercedarian Order brought vine stalks from Peru, presumably on the backs of mules or natives and the creeping plant took its first tentative hold on Argentine soil. It's been growing since then.

Mendoza's soil and climate proved ideal for wine production. The hills and plains soon produced an abundance of crops. So successful was the burgeoning industry, the Spanish King Phillip II tried to ban the practice in an attempt to protect the Spanish industry. This hampered progress until independence.

But you can't keep a good vine down. By the end of the 19th century, there was a steady flow of vino from Mendoza to Buenos Aires, albeit by oxcart. So prized were the wines, bandits and highwaymen plagued the trade, ambushing the precious cargo as it trundled along the potholed road.

The grapes being used weren't too sophisticated and the methods and equipment primitive. The vine, for example, was grown like a bush, without a supporting trellis. Labour was provided by Native and African slaves. The wine press was a hollowed out cow turned upside down. The fresh grape juice was drained into a bucket through an orifice where the animals tail had been. Thank God for progress.

Throughout the 19th century, the industry advanced with several key improvements. Finer varieties of grape from Europe were introduced. Irrigation ~ essential in this regions dry and sunny climate, was redesigned and extended. Better canals, dams and dykes were built.

In 1885 the railway arrived, connecting the interior to the capital. Transport was no longer a slow and cumbersome business, not just for crates of wine but people too. Immigrants from Italy, Spain and France arrived, fleeing the Depression and two World wars. Many brought valuable experience and knowledge in the art of viticulture.

Argentine Wine Today
Soon Argentina became one of the largest producers of wine in the world, yet for many years it was used primarily for domestic consumption. very little was exported. A thirsty home market consumed on average forty-five bottles per person each year (Chile averages twent-five, the UK twenty). such a huge yet undemanding local market ensured the wine remained cheap and of low quality. It was plonk for the masses.

Things could not remain so forever. The growing popularity of beer and a general downward trend in home consumption forced the wineries to look elsewhere and in turn improve their wines. They began to grub up bulk wine grapes such as Criolla and Cereza and replace them with quality ones such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Labelling became clearer and wine flavours cleaner. The industry becam more professional with improved technology and marketing. Prestigious wine makers such as Michel Rolland and the Lurton brothers from Bordeaux set up shop as well as big multinationals such as Pernod Ricard and Allied Domecq.

After several false starts, such efforts have finally begun to pay off. Foreign wine lovers have started to take notice. In 2003 the influential wine critic Robert Parker Jr. awarded 94 points to a Nicolas Catena Zapata 1999. He waxed lyrical how this Malbec "bursts from the glass with spice laden blackberries". Exports have risen exponentially, buoyed no doubt by the 2002 currency devaluation. Argentine wine, previously the black sheep of New World wines, has finally been taken into the fold.

Why Mendoza?
Many things are needed to make a good wine and Mendoza seems to have all of them. The soil and lie of the land are perfect. The altitude guarantees a healthy fruit with little need of chemicals. Constant sunlight and little wind are other important factors. When the wind does blow, like the sporadic "Zonda wind", it's actually a good thing; dehumidifying the air and lessening the chance of disease. And of course you have the melted snow from the mountains, bringing water without cloud. Mendoza's impressive irrigation network feeds 16000 thirsty vineyards. It consists of rivers, dykes, reservoirs, drainage channels and bore holes; a man made miracle that adds another facet to the uniqueness of the wine.

More info - AndesEscape.com