Andes strewn with snow dominate the western part of the sky, hanging over the vineyards, like Gulliver, dressed in white, bending over a valley of midgets. A stream of wind, constantly descending from the mountains, rustles with leaves of grapes, resembling the quiet murmur of a river ...
Argentina Wines: Malbec
It is worth the effort to tear your gaze away from the surrounding beauties and turn it down, to the "Calicata" - a depression dug in the ground between rows of grapes. The slice exposes layers of pale beige limestone mixed with large smooth white rocks. Nearby is another depression, but the soil in it was completely different. This is chalky limestone sprinkled with small pebbles. Through the series, another calicate was made, in which there is no longer any limestone, only loamy loess.
The wines from grapes grown on each of these soils will be just as varied. For example, Malbek on chalky ground will be dry and citrus, with aromas of minerals and herbs. Rocky soil will give a drink of a higher tone, give a more grassy, piquant, juicy taste and more intense minerality. And grapes grown on loam have excellent acidity with a predominance of fruit aromas over mineral ones.
Among connoisseurs of a sunny drink, Argentina was first of all glorified by the Malbec grape variety. The wines from it are red, distinguished by the richness of the style, which is dominated by the aromas of excellent fruits and oak. They have become an almost common brand, the red equivalent of pinot grigio. At bars and restaurants throughout the United States, wine lovers looking for anonymous red ask for a glass of malbec. True, a significant segment of consumers is not used to it.
Argentinean malbec wines, the price of which is in the range of $ 10-15 for a bottle and does not exceed $ 30 for the best brands, are quite democratic and can become a profitable alternative to French.
Demand for terroir
Tasters-researchers, who are always at the forefront of the search, have fueled a new interest in refined and harmonious wines. They initiated re-examination of grapes, once considered too uncertain, and regions previously overlooked. They value drinks that express terroir. For them, Argentinean malbec wine can become an Australian shiraz.
Perhaps unfairly, but they began to treat Australia as the homeland of exceptionally heavy fruit wines. So Argentina was destined to be associated with a popular grape variety. Although mostly malbec wine is considered by consumers to be fruit-based, an increasing number of producers from the Mendoza region, the center of Argentinean grape production for this variety, are trying to go beyond this. They begin to make a product that follows the nuances of the terroir.
Cognitive "Calicatas"
Some manufacturers are striving to make better, finer Malbec wine. Others are looking for other varieties such as Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Some winemakers, such as Katena Zapata, do both.
Therefore, throughout Mendoza, the vineyards are dotted with these "calicatas" - pits in the soil, dug not only for the enlightenment of visitors, but also for the training of winemakers themselves, who for so long cared more about the simplicity of cultivation and quantity of production, and not about the quality of wines or the specificity of terroirs. It is easy to imagine Cistercian monks doing something similar when they cataloged the soil of Burgundy 500 years ago.
The process has become difficult because the Mendoza terroirs are incredibly complex. In the Adrianna vineyard and in many other places, the structure of the soil changes radically from one row of vines to another, sometimes even after only a few meters.
The geology of Mendoza was formed millions of years ago when the ancient ocean covered the territory from Patagonia to Peru, leaving behind rich deposits of limestone. For countless millennia, rivers from the Andes laid rocks and silt, forming many different combinations of clay, stones and gravel.
Coveted limestone
“There is still plenty of pure limestone in the Andes, and its thin veins stretch all the way to Mendoza,” says Pedro Parra, a geologist from Chile who specializes in terroirs and partners with Altos Las Ormigas, a local producer who intends to make wines with a distinct terroir. “In one place there may be solid limestone, but a few meters away it is already gone.”
For Parra and his colleagues, the chalky ground is the holy grail, a storehouse from which high-quality mineral flows flow. He tirelessly searches for it in Mendoza, digs the earth, analyzes soil samples, correlating his discoveries with what he tastes in the wines.
The differences can be amazing. Pulenta Estate is an excellent producer located in Lujan de Cuillo, a region in the immediate vicinity of Mendoza, where there are quite a few wineries, and there is a vineyard, the soil of which consists mainly of sand, gravel and clay. He has another vineyard in the south of the Uko Valley with stony limestone deposits.
Wine malbec from Lujan de Cuillo is pleasantly fruity and velvety. In the Uko Valley, it is structured and tannin, with fruity notes interspersed with the aromas and tastes of graphite. Pulenta mixes these two varieties to make a blended malbec, but the wine from the Uko Valley is certainly better.
The fight of stone and clay
Indeed, Malbec wine from Mendoza, which is made from grapes grown on clay soils, especially if clay is often watered and fertilized, is darker, sweeter, fruity and high in alcohol. It seems sadly familiar. Wine from a berry grown on rocky soils, often with some admixture of limestone, is usually more structured, pronounced and subtle.
Parra on the terroir looks in Manichaean.
“Stones and clay are fighting each other,” he says, standing at the Calicata in a vineyard in the Uco Valley between the cities of La Consulta and Eugenio Bustos. - Clay creates a monster wine. Stones produce vertical, structured drinks. You either like clay or lime wine. ”
First alpine
“Katena Zapata” took a different, more complicated path. Nicholas Catena, who adopted the family winery in the 1960s, was the first to move towards the high-mountain vineyards in 1980 and 1990, after making sure that wines can become more noble and refined only if they are made in a cold climate, especially in comparison with vineyards located at lower altitudes near the city of Mendoza. Only after laying the “Adrianna”, the highest mountain plantation “Katena Zapata” in the Uko Valley, the winery began to analyze the structure of its soils.
Cold and light
In 1995, Katena's daughter Laura founded the Katena Institute for Research and Development, which pays special attention to Adrianna. She is currently the CEO of Katena Zapata and believes that the soil is only part of the formula for creating an elegant, nuanced drink, along with a cold, dry, fresh climate at high altitudes and the quality of lighting.
“To produce wines similar to those made at Adrianna, both components are needed: a cool climate and special soils,” she said.
Less than oak
Since terroir is so important, the best manufacturers take steps so that it is not drowned out. Many Mendoza manufacturers still rely too much on new oak barrels to add flavor and texture to the drink, but winemakers such as Katena Zapata, Altos Las Ormigas, Pulenta and Mendel make conscious efforts to limit the use of oak.
Katena Zapata at Adrianne produces two types of high-class chardonnay that perfectly illustrate this approach: these are pristine drinks full of nuances. The winery also makes fresh, floral, beautifully balanced malbec wine with the curious name of Mundus Bacillus Terrae (due to the form of mold found only in certain parts of the vineyard).
According to the winemaker Javier Lo Forte from Pulenty Estate, he strives to make wines “complex, sophisticated and strong”, for example, a stunningly spicy cabernet franc, which meets all his goals. Pulenta also produces fresh, tart Sauvignon Blanc, piquant chardonnay and a deep, structured gran malbec.
Since 2011, the Malbec wine from Altos Las Ormigas from a number of different vineyards has become less and less oak, more refined and mineral.
The Mendel in Lujan de Cuillo, along with 80-year-old plantings of Malbec and Cabernet, additionally owns an old vineyard in the Uco Valley, Finca Remota. Here they make a deep, textured, mineral semillon. They also produce fine, balanced wine “Mariposa” (malbek), structured, mineral cabernet-sauvignon and “Unus” - a mixture of cabernet, malbec and pit-verdot, very concentrated and tannin. None of them are oak.
Michelini brothers
In the restaurants of Mendoza and Buenos Aires, you can also meet other producers seeking to create more balanced wines. Among them - a pleasantly sour, attractive Chenin-Blanc from "Hen del Alma", light, but with wafer nuances of Cabernet Franc "Sorsal" and another charming Cabernet Franc "Micheline".
Perhaps it is not by chance that all these wines are made by Michelini, the three brothers creating their various combinations that can be found in the stylish wine bars of New York.
The Michelininevine Cabernet Franc comes from the Tupungato Winelands, an unusual project in the Uco Valley, which combines luxurious residences with the atmosphere of country clubs, golf courses and polo and private vineyards.
The future of the Argentinean Malbec
According to the geologist Parra, the flat areas are mostly clay with alluvial soils, on which the vine grows well, but the steep slopes, consisting of rocky sandy limestone, are still empty.
“There is a tradition of planting grapes on flat sites, but gran cru can only be grown on these magnificent slopes that are completely free,” he complained. “Maybe this is the business of the future, Argentina 2020.”