Vines of Mendoza – Part 3 – The Aroma Sensory Tasting

We are jumping ahead in the calendar for part 3 of The Vines of Mendoza as our 3rd visit didn’t happen until a week later. But since the 3rd visit was so informative and such a rich experience, I wanted to share it with you now in order to give you a better glimpse of what a rich resource this wine bar is.

On Monday, April 21, Tara and I were back in Mendoza after 4 or 5 days in the province of San Juan (north of Mendoza). On Monday night, Tara headed back to Buenos Aires and back home to Switzerland and I headed back to Neuquén and home to Sarah and our life in Patagonia. After a few days of traveling, Monday was one of those rest days and I spent most of it reading a book. Tara went to see one last bodega, Escorihuela, which is located close to the heart of the city of Mendoza. That afternoon, Tara sponsored a wine tasting back at The Vines of Mendoza.

The Aroma Sensory Tasting is just 3 wines, but in addition to the 3 wine glasses there are 13 small sniffer glasses filled with the various aromas that are typically found in Argentine wine. They included: pear, grapefruit, honey, strawberry, raisin, prune, red pepper, cheese, earth, coffee, chocolate, tobacco, pepper (black) and mushrooms (dry). Pablo was our guide through the wines and aromas and he provided a brief, yet in-depth overview of what to know and look for when tasting wines.

Below are the notes from this sensory tasting. It was an experience that I would repeat and would highly recommend to anyone who wants to know more about wine. While it may look hokey sticking your nose into a glass filled with honey and taking a big whiff, it helped me learn to be aware of honey overtones in white wines. The same goes for all of the aromas. Two of the most surprising aromas were tobacco and prunes. I never would have thought that those flavors would be found in Malbecs, but they oftentimes are.


General notes from the aroma tasting:

Aromas are the smells of the grape, the fermentation (maturation) process and the aging process. Too much heat equals a loss of aroma for the wine. This is why temperature control is so important throughout the wine making process. If the wine gets too hot the taste is usually too sharp, and a wine that is too cold usually takes away the aromas of the wine.

Both white and red wines are a structure and balance of acids, sugars and alcohol. Reds have an additional dimension with tannins. A bouquet has a wide range of aromas that make up its structure and the goal (of winemakers) is to have a balanced bouquet structure.

Acid - if it is too high will make a wine sharp.
Sugar - if it is too high will make it round, thick and sharp.
Alcohol - if it is too high will make it hard.
Tannin - if it is too high will make it rough (Reds only).

It is best to count to 10 after tasting a wine in order to best measure the taste.

For Whites:

Malic acid is a green apple acid you taste and feel with white wines, and you feel it on the side and back of the mouth. Sharp whites are grapes that have been picked early.

To get fruity wine the winemakers have to get the juice cold first and ferment later. Whites have a shorter fermentation process. Whites are greener in color when they are young. The older they are the more vibrant their colors get and the less fruity the taste of the wine becomes.

Whites are not meant to be kept for a long time. You typically want to drink whites when they are younger.

For Reds:

Malolactic fermentation is the process that transforms malic acid into lactic acid. It provides more chemical stability to the wine. The resulting lactic acids create aromas that are more buttery and cheesey. The goal is to stop this fermentation process at the right time to create the right structure and taste.

Aging the wine usually helps in achieving a flavor that would not be present soon after the fermentation process has been completed. A well-aged red wine will have a lighter color tone as reds become softer over time in their color. The darker a red wine is in color, the younger it is. Young red wines are also typically more acidic, and thus more gripping.

Oftentimes reds are aged in oak to give a wine more tannin and a less fruity flavor in addition to adding an extra dimension to the structure of the wine. Tannins in reds, like the colors, also get softer with time.


The aromas:
For Whites: Pear, Honey, Grapefruit
Reds - not aged in oak barrels or with oak chips: Strawberry, Raisin, Prune, Red Pepper, Cheese and Earth
Reds – aged in oak barrels or with oak chips: above aromas plus Coffee, Tobacco, Pepper (black), and Mushrooms (dried).


The Wines:

Mounier
Torrontes 2006
Cafayate, Salta

Sharp, crisp and tart. Honey and grapefruit. Less Pear.

Mendoza whites tend to have more pear.


Mairena
Bonarda 2005
Lujan, Mendoza
2 months in oak

The Bonarda grape used to be used for added structure of red wines in Mendoza and not for drinking. But now many vineyards are exploring and creating wines that are comprised mostly if not fully with the Bonarda grape.

See: Plum and violet color
Snif: Raisin, fruity, chocolate?, dark fruit (strawberry after hearing)
Swirl: more complex, more pruny/raisiny with sweet strawberry background
Sip: tannin, sweet like strawberry, slightly bitter.


Cavas de Crianza Malbec
2005
10 months in oak

See: redder, purple tint, clearer, brighter
Snif: oak and black peppery
Swirl: slight earthy, raisiny, tobacco (only after smelling tobacco)
Sip: tannin, peppery, slight bitter

Vines of Mendoza – Part 2 – The Carmelo Patti Experience

Tuesday, April 15th marked our adventure to the southern Luján valley for a visit to the Catena Zapata winery. After our Angélica Zapata unguided wine tasting, we got back into our small rental car and headed towards Mendoza. We took the back roads up north to the main plaza of the village of Luján (about 15 minutes south of the city of Mendoza) and ate a typical Argentine lunch of milanesa – steak that has been pounded flat, breaded and then baked or fried. We were borderline wined out. On Monday we had 9 wine tastings at 2 vineyards, 3 or 4 full glasses of wine at lunch, and 5 or 6 small, wine tasting glasses at the Vines of Mendoza. There we were on Tuesday afternoon, debating about whether we wanted to go to one more vineyard after the Catena Zapata premium wine tour experience. I do not remember exactly what we discussed, but I do not think I would be far off when I write that we debated what we could possibly learn by visiting another vineyard. I know, at least, that I was thinking that.

Remember that the night before, Sarah and Tara had chatted up Pedro and Pablo and one of them had jotted down the name Carmelo Patti, a small vineyard in Luján. Sarah and Tara agreed that it would be worth it to visit one more bodega, and since this one came recommended we shouldn’t pass up the opportunity. We reached a consensus and headed off towards Carmelo’s.

When we found the address listed for Carmelo Patti’s Bodega on Avenida San Martin in Luján, we were taken aback that there were no signs, just a gravel drive with warehouses on both sides. As we pulled around back, we thought we had the wrong address as an older man with white hair and a cordless telephone came out to say hello. He told us to park the car and that he would be with us in a couple of minutes. There were no gates, no guards, no pomp or circumstance like we found at the other 3 vineyards. After waiting a few minutes at the doorway of the warehouse, the white haired gentleman introduced himself as Carmelo. He wanted to officially welcome us to his bodega and was thrilled to talk about wine.

And so our tour began at one of the most intimate bodegas we visited in Mendoza. For the next 40 minutes Carmelo showed us around his small facility, talked about his philosophy for making wine, showed us how everything was done by himself with the help of a handful of workers. He showed us his old school concrete tanks with their epoxy type finish where his wine ferments, he described how he thinks aging wine in oak barrels is silly and ruins the taste of wine, he showed us how he inspects every bottle that he sells, how his labels are applied and even how he packs up his boxes for shipping. Carmelo showed us all of this and within 30 minutes, I think it is fair to say that we all fell in love with this man.

Looking back it is hard for me to imagine that a winemaker like Carmelo Patti exists in Mendoza. We saw a number of giant bodegas, each with their hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments in stainless steel tanks, their pipes and hoses and automated processes, their French oak barrels for 800 Euros a piece, and their elaborate tasting rooms with fireplaces and modern art and exposed brick buildings. It is hard to believe that in the middle of Mendoza, this epicenter of the Argentine wine industry, that there live people like Carmelo that make better wine that is hand crafted.

So as he told us how he does not grow his own grapes (contracts out with 3 growers year after year), how he does not believe in aging his wine in oak (he prefers aging solely in bottles), and how, in fact, he has too much space and too many wine tanks (he leases out the space to larger producers), we stood there in his warehouse, in front of his tasting table with his wines, both labeled and unlabeled, in absoluter awe. To think that he pays such attention to the craft of his wine and still has time to give tours to people like us. Amazing!

We tasted his wine and loved every line. He even let us try his premium blend. We each bought bottles and as quickly as the next day, regretted that we didn’t buy more. This was the beauty of The Vines of Mendoza – the focus of attention to winemakers who are craftsmen and craftswomen. Without the Vines, we probably never would have heard of Carmelo Patti, much less visited his bodega. And so, that afternoon, we promised ourselves we would return to the wine bar.

We each had a glass of Malbec and then had a celebratory toast to Mendoza, the Vines and winemakers like Carmelo with a glass of his champagne.

2005 Malbec
Gimenez Rilli Cepas de Familia vineyard.

Paul: smokey, spicy, rich, chocolate, oaky bouquet. Slight tannin, rounded taste.
Sarah: brown, dusty aroma, smells like a steakhouse, hard to describe flavor, but excellent and very drinkable.

Espumante
Carmelo Patti
Extra Brut 2005

Excellent and dry with honey overtones

Vines of Mendoza - Part 1

On Monday night, April 14 we discovered a gem of a wine bar near the Plaza Independencia in Mendoza. It is called The Vines of Mendoza, and it is a place that is worth returning to again and again and again, and I am not just saying this for some rhetorical effect. We visited this wine bar a total of 5 times over the course of two visits to Mendoza, but I get ahead of myself.

The Vines of Mendoza is owned by two North Americans (Yankees) and one Argentine (Mendocino) and their mission is to expose visitors to Mendoza to the more boutique and artesanal vineyards of the area. They have an extensive wine list and they have 3 events every week – a wine and cheese pairing, a talk and tasting with a winemaker and a sparkling wine tasting. In addition to this, you can walk into their bar any day of the week after 3 pm and have a guided tasting with different flights of wine. They do not sell any bottles from the bar but they do encourage all of their visitors to join their wine club, which means that they send you different bottles from the local vineyards 4 or 6 times a year. In short, the Vines is a wine marketing machine and they execute their mission with knowledgeable and honest staff, an eye for detail and excellence and a subtle flare of pride that they are the coolest wine bar in town (and, indeed, we think that they are!).

We began our daily Vines of Mendoza pilgrimage on Monday night, the Wine and Cheese pairing night. We had a wonderful time tasting the different wines and getting to know the two omnipresent servers – Pablo and Pedro. Sarah and Tara were effective in chatting up Pablo and Pedro and scored one or two extra – off the tasting menu – wines. By the 4th glass, I was ready to go find dinner somewhere but stuck it out for the 5th. Luckily for me, the 5th glass was a sweet, late harvest wine – my favorites! After spending 2 hours at the tasting, we headed out for a meal, alight with our wine buzz. We were smitten with this bar and not three steps out of their doorway, we decided that we would return again on Tuesday, the 15th.

Notes from the Wine and Cheese Pairing night:
*All of these notes were observed by Sarah, save for wine number 5. All of those comments come from yours truly.

Mounier
Torreontes 2007
Cafayate, Salta

Crisp, refreshing aroma. Citrus bite at the front of the tongue. Excellent for a hot summer night

Gimenez Rilli
Merlot 2006
Vinedos de Maipu, Mendoza

Chocolate, oaky, earthy, smoky aroma. Not much after taste; dry but not too dry. Nice and drinkable.

Cavas de Crianza
Malbec 2005
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza

Velvety aroma, berries, almost sweet aroma. Rich flavor with tannins. A little spicy, peppery punch in the middle of the tongue.

Lorca Poetico
Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec blend 2006
Vista Flores, Uco Valley, Mendoza

Drier, spicier, not as fruity as Malbec. Sharp to begin with then smooth.
Paul: not gulgable.

Lancatay
Semillon 2005
Late Harvest
Barrancas, Maipú, Mendoza

Smells like lemon pie without the meringue, sweet and citrusy, orangey, sweet frontal attack, slightly dry.
“Why is it that Anglos kill natives then name cars and wines after them?”

The extra glass Sarah and Tara received during the middle of the set wine tasting:

Azul Reserva 2003
Blend Cabernet, Malbec and Merlot
Sarah: Sharp, slightly earthy aroma, full, hits the back of the throat dryly

Catena Zapata

Catena Zapata: these two words have held a magical spell over me since 2006 when I came to visit Sarah as she was doing pre-dissertation field work. We went out to eat one night at a lovely Italian restaurant in Palermo called La Baita on the corner of Thames and Honduras. We ate salads, homemade pastas, had an incredible frozen mascarpone dessert with fresh berries and a wine called D.V. Catena. It was a Malbec-Malbec blend and it was from 2002.

Ever since that night, I have been searching for another glass of D.V. Catena. I have not been able to find it anywhere in the U.S. When we decided to go to Mendoza, I told Sarah and Tara that I wanted to go to Catena Zapata, no matter what. Fortunately, we were able to get a reservation for a tour. This bodega requires them. Our tour was on Tuesday, April 15.

The vineyard is 30 or so minutes south of Mendoza and the views of the Andes were jaw-dropping. Catena Zapata makes great wine and they know it. And we came to know that they know it by suffering through one of their tours. We were a few minutes late and as we walked in the door, they ushered us into a room where a film was playing. It was a short film about the mastery and tradition that Catena Zapata embodies and thus recreates with all of its wine. I say that it was a film, when in actuality, a commercial is a better descriptor of the reel, and when it was finished I had the unmistakable feeling that what they wanted to get across to all of their visitors was the sentiment, “You are lucky to be here, because we are the best!”

When the lights came on the tour guides built upon this aura of greatness by walking us through a room of oak barrels – 70% French and 30% American – that cost 800 Euros each. We were then informed that all of Catena’s premium wines spend no more than 1 year in each barrel and so if the wine requires 4 years of aging, it will age in four different and new barrels.

Next we were shown the stainless steel tanks where the wine is fermented. We were taken up on a catwalk that allowed us to look down into the tanks. We happened to be there at a time when they were pumping some wine from the bottom of the tank and spraying it back into the top of the tank to break through “the skin”, the collection of grapes skins and seeds that collects on the top of the wine in the tanks during the fermentation process. It was all using the latest technology and the guide was sure to emphasize this point. Catena Zapata had the biggest stainless steel tanks, they had the best oak barrels that cost the most, they used the latest technology and this is what made their wine the best!

We were then led to the roof of one of the main building where we had an unbelievable view of the Andes. And like that, the tour was over and we were led to the tasting room which was very sparse, only 4 tables with 4 chairs each. I think we were given one glass of red Malbec from the Los Alamos line, and if we wanted to try another line, we would have to pay.

It seemed obvious to me that the style and structure and rhetoric of this wine tour at Catena Zapata was this vineyard’s way of saying, “Bodegas like Famiilia Zuccardi are crap. We think we are better. We have been here longer. We have been doing it better. We have better wine. We have better equipment. Hands down, we make better wine. And we snub our noses at them.” Normally, I would have thought, enough with the arrogance, it is time to leave. But both Sarah and I had tasted the D.V. Catena line of wine, which we learned during the tour was only sold to the domestic Argentine market. We wanted Tara to be able to enjoy what we have always felt to be a very good Malbec wine. So we decided to stay and pay for a tasting of another line of only available in the domestic market, the Angelica Zapata line.

One interesting bit of wine making that we learned at Catena Zapata was the fact that they (and we later learned many other large wineries have and do) have numerous vineyards around the entire Mendoza region, and they combine the grapes from these different locals to make a bottle of wine. So the Malbec Los Alamos will not be a bottle of Malbec from one specific area of vines, but a blending of Malbec grapes from many different vine locations. What Catena does that many others seem to be imitating is taking Malbec grapes that are grown at high altitude and blending them with Malbec grapes from lower altitudes in order to arrive at a richer complexity. They do this with other grapes as well, Malbec was just an example. This is also why their D.V. Catena label says Malbec – Malbec, because the grapes came from different altitudes. It is worth noting though that the grapes are fermented with other grapes from the same vine locations and are only blended and combined after the fermentation and aging processes have been completed.

Our notes on the Angelica Zapata line are below. While we thought the arrogance of Catena Zapata was funny and slightly annoying, we still agreed that the grounds were beautiful, their wine making process informative and the wine quite rich in its complexity.

Catena Zapata

The Angelica Zapata Tasting

Merlot Alta 2003

Paul: dark, earthy bouquet. I sense chocolate and some spice. Dry, tannin, full body, subtle attack.

Sarah: hmm…mmmm…wonderful. Dry, tannin, earthy, cinnamony aroma, dark chocolate after taste. Aroma fuller than taste. Warm start, dry finish.






Cabernet Franc Alta 2002

Paul: lighter, dark aromas but fruiter and not too chocolatey. Fewer Tannins, dries top of tongue, not sides, round.

Tara says velvety.

Sarah: troubling aroma, sharper, cherry, round beginning, little bit of berries, dry finish on the top of the tongue.



Malbec Alta 2003

Paul: rich aroma, earthy, complex bouquet, slight tannin, more round in the middle, full and round; glugable – easiest to drink.

Sarah: smokey, leather, deep rich purple coloring, super smooth, intense berries, not a lot of tannins, sweet finish.

Bodegas La Rural and Zuccardi

Monday, April 14 marks the beginning of our wine odyssey. After our superb lunch at Azafran two days before, we decided that Familia Zuccardi would be a good vineyard to visit. When we called, they asked if we wanted to have lunch at the winery. We, of course, said yes. So with the morning open, we decided to start our adventures at La Rural Bodega, which also has a wine making museum.

Now, it is important to know that wine tours in Mendoza are conducted in English and in Spanish. Most offer free tours, some vineyards charge for a tasting and all of them want you to buy their wine. The wine tour itself usually entails a greeting, the showing of the wine making machinery, a view of the vats used for the fermentation, a brisk tour through the wine aging and storage facilities and a finish that includes a tasting or two of wine. This is the normal arc of a wine tour, no matter if you are in Neuquén, Mendoza, or San Juan. And while it seems rather straight forward and hard to screw up, you would be surprised.

So we arrived at La Rural, and the grounds are quaint and beautiful. We are ushered into this giant room filled with enormous, old, wooden barrels. We are a few minutes early and are told that the tour will begin soon. So we make our way to an adjoining room that has thousands of wine making instruments – literally thousands of parts and pieces and presses and barrels and bottles and whatever else is needed to make wine. The tour begins, the guide asks if English is okay – half the people are Spanish speakers – and then she says, “This is the room that is our museum. It has equipment dating back to the 17th century. Over there you will see that they used to press the grapes by standing in a leather hide that is pulled taught and then the juice would be stored in big clay pots that were under ground as that picture says. We have come a long way since then with our wine technology as you will see. Okay, now we will give you 5 minutes to look at the museum and after that we will begin our tour.” Everyone begins to mill around the room and then we gather together and the tour guide asks, “Any questions about this?” And she began to lead us to where the wine is made. Some museum tour!

We make our way into this warehouse, and we are shown the machine that the grapes are loaded onto, and how it separates the grape and the stem, and how with the grapes used for white wine it presses the juice and sends it through the pipes and tubes into the tanks but for grapes for red wine the grapes are crushed and the seeds and skin stay with the wine and pumped through the pipes and tubes into the tanks. We are then shown the tanks. We are then told that the white wine needs x number of days to ferment and the red needs x number more of days. And then she says that the red wine is stored in barrels for a certain amount of time and then they wine is filtered and bottled. And it was cold that day. And the floor is cold and the warehouse is cold. And she so when she says, “Okay, who wants to try some wine?” Everyone replies, “Yes, I do!”

So we are shuttled back into the main entry room with the giant barrels and a team of 8 young things who work the counter are milling about and our guide gets a bottle of wine and pours us each a glass (it is close to 11 a.m. in the morning) and tells us that this wine is their Cabernet. It tastes okay. We are not offered a second wine to try and instead are asked if we want to buy anything. Many of us gently demur and the conversation stops. We are asked if there are any questions. There are no questions. We decide to go to look at the merchandising. In so doing, I realize that La Rural makes San Felipe – one of the most common table wines in the country.

So is this what wine tours are all about? I ask Sarah and she shrugs her shoulders and we decide that we don’t want to buy anything. Tara agrees – not much to buy here. We decide to take some more photos and use the bathroom and head on our way to Familia Zuccardi as our lunch reservation is for 1 p.m.

We arrive at Familia Zuccardi and the grounds are spectacular and never ending. They have awning covered parking for the cars and we have to sign in at the guardhouse. We are told that we are early and asked if we want to join a wine tour. We say yes. We wait outside and then are called in and are told that since a wine tour will be starting in 15 minutes, we can join another wine group that is in the tasting room. We shrug our shoulders and say why not.

We are in the middle of the tasting, probably trying one of the lower end Malbecs and we are asked if we want to join an English group for a tour or stay with the Spanish speaking group. We decide on the Spanish speaking tour and that allows us to continue with the tasting. We try 2 more wines. We have not eaten since breakfast and already we have tried 5 small glasses of wine.

The tour begins. We quickly realize that Familia Zuccardi is HUGE. They produce so much wine that it might be best to just call them Familia Budweiser. They bottle millions of bottles of wine. They have the Santa Julia line, the Santa Julia Reserva, the Zuccardi line, the Q line, and the Z line. The Z is their premium and the Santa Julia is their low end. They make whites, roses, reds, and desert wines. Our tour lasts for well over an hour. We see their stainless steel tanks for the whites. We see the stainless steel tanks for the reds. They are all enormous and hold a ridiculous amount of liquid – maybe 40,000 liters each. Then we are shown the stainless steel tanks for the premium lines, they are smaller but still large able to hold up to 25,000 liters each. Then we are shown the room with the oak barrels. We are shown just about everything and the tour is filled with details about wine that we never knew (remember that we are novices) like always using new oak barrels for each year of the aging with the premium wines, the fact that premium lines of wines usually requires pruning of the grape vines so that there are less but more potent and flavorful grapes in the harvest, that damaged seeds can ruin a wine in the fermentation process and thus the machines are made to smash the grape but in a way that keeps the seeds intact, etc. etc.

We are amazed and enlightened and probably a little tipsy from the wine tasting that occurred before the tour. So we are surprised when we are led back into the tasting room for another round. Yee-haw! Four more bottles, four different bottles than the earlier tasting. And we swirl, sniff and sip with a newly educated wine mind. We laugh with the tour guide and are all smiles as we make our way to lunch.

The lunch room is housed in its own elegant building. Stone patios, terraces with vines, fires in the fireplace and big tables with big chairs help create the atmosphere of opulence. We are shown to our seats and asked if we want the grilled meat lunch. We say yes and they start pouring wine. The whites are paired with the appetizers, the reds start with the soups or salads, the meat comes out on platters and we can choose the cuts we want, and, of course, the desert wine comes out with the desert. It was lovely and they even had some of their olive oil, a business market they are trying to break into. Even though the meat was a little tough (very odd, we though considering that we were in Argentina), it was good nonetheless. The service was great as they didn’t push and they kept the wine flowing.

After our cafes we ambled back over to the store full of merchandise and began to yuck it up with the tour guides, one of whom was from England. When they asked which wines we had tried, we listed the 4 with lunch, the 4 with the first tasting and the 4 with the second tasting, and he raised his eyebrows and said, “Right, you all have done quite well for yourselves, haven’t you?” We bought a couple of small things, including some olive oil and made our way back into Mendoza. It must have been close to 4 p.m.

Phew! These bodegas can be tough work. Even though Familia Zuccardi was the Budweiser of wine makers, we thought the tour to be miles ahead of La Rural, which had the feel of a smaller winery. We were happy to have visited this winery and were ready to explore the different bodegas in the area.

La Rural

Familia Zuccardi

A Sunday Drive

On Sunday, April 13 we decided to take a walk in the rental car and head up into the mountains. We did this for two reasons. One, most all of the bodegas in Mendoza are closed on Sundays. Two, Sarah and I had heard there was a hot spring outside of Mendoza and we were suffering from withdrawal from the “terma” experience. Below are the photos of the day which started out cold and snowy in the foothills but which later turned into a bright, blue sky afternoon as we drove closer to the border with Chile.

It is worth mentioning the town of Uspallata that is on the road to the Argentine/Chilean frontier. This high altitude town is the locale where Seven Years in Tibet was filmed. And because this area had received the kind, benevolent blessing from some Hollywood studio head to receive a face lift and be transformed into a place that it is not, a lot of the set was left behind when the filming was finished, not to mention a couple of Tibetans who later opened restaurants in Mendoza.

So when in Uspallata, do what Uspallatenses do, have a café at The Tibet Bar! Yes, The Tibet Bar is in the heart of the Andes, 80 kilometers outside of the city of Mendoza and it is 100% certified Buddhist with a few gold Buddhas, a mural of the Potala Palace and traditional wall and door paintings throughout the interior. Unfortunately, they were all out of Yak butter tea.

The Andes

The Tibet Bar