Saturday evening we feasted at a hot new restaurant, Massey, in the
Palermo section of the city. We dined very early, around 9 p.m., so the
place was deserted. This is early in Argentina; the restaurant did not
fill up until 10:30. Elena Catena of Bodegas Esmeralda welcomed us as we
dined and enjoyed her wines. Sated and wide-eyed, we boarded the bus to
a midnight tango show. Afterwards, some felt the city’s vibrant rhythm
and went to a disco. I went to bed.
Sunday we drove out in the countryside to an estancia, or ranch,
where we had an asado, a barbecue, for lunch. We had a surprise
guest: the family’s pet emu that strutted around and snatched food right
off our plates! An asado is a grilling of carne, or meat,
and we had four courses of carne! We cooled off in the spring-fed
pool – ice cold – and sunned ourselves until we drove back to the city
with “Mad Max,” our bus driver.
Why Mad Max you say? Well, first you need to understand driving in Argentina:
1) The lane lines are just a suggestion.
2) Using a blinker to change lanes, which are only abstract concepts,
is a sign of weakness.
3) Do not use headlights in a slow, high traffic area like a crowded
city street (this actually is good if you are sitting at café) or
in a traffic jam on the highway. Cars do have the daytime running headlights,
which do make them slightly visible.
4) You must cut in front of other cars with a foot or so to spare.
Remember, they expect it.
5) Aggressive driving, not defensive driving, is the accepted rule.
Aggressive, yet oddly polite. We drove back to the city in bumper to bumper traffic with our “mad” bus driver honking and weaving and running cars off the road. Even a police car! I dozed off and on through all of this in the back of the bus, and thus avoided a panic attack. Since I had sat up front on the trip out and rivetedly watched Max’s driving, I had no trouble believing excitement I had missed. We have seen no accidents, and no one seems to get “road rage” like we North Americans do.
Sunday evening we dined again in Palermo outside in the café
at Nuevocento American Bistro. After two meals starring the excellent and
all-pervasive Argentine beef, I tried lomo sur mar negra, “tenderloin
of the sea black” or Black Sea Bass. Again the cuisine was excellent and
the wine smooth and friendly: Chandon (Argentina) Brut, “Elsa” Chenin Blanc
and Valentin Bianchi Particular Cabernet ‘88.
San Rafael is a two-hour flight from Buenos Aires in the northeastern province of Mendoza, Argentina’s major wine region. The land is flat and dry with lots of scrub or chaparral. Extensive irrigation from the Andes snowmelt is evident from the air: green rectangular lots and straight tree lines or windbreaks are the most visible features. The Valentin Bianchi winery or bodegas is located in the outskirts of town. A brilliant yellow and red door slid open to reveal an old winery with a classic Spanish flair. On the grounds, which are only a couple of acres, sits the house where the Valentin family used to live. There are at least five levels to the winery, three of which are underground. On the first level fermenting tanks are set into the walls, with only the doors and pipes showing. Large hoses snake along corridors, around corners and intertwine into large twisted masses. On the second level are the storage alcoves for the wines: 46,752 bottles in this one, 33,879 bottles in that one and so on for 30 or so alcoves. That’s a lot of wine!
We tasted their wines in the lofty, old barrel room. Huge oak barrels that once aged wine until ready for bottling lined the walls. We tasted two different lines of wines: the first from “Elsa’s Vineyard,” a good quality level that sells for about $7.50, and the second the eponymous Valentin Bianchi, with a new black and white label. (Available February 1999!) Their Chenin Blanc “Elsa” is lovely, fresh and lively with wonderfully succulent fruit. Perfect as an aperitif, it was a favorite of the group. The Chardonnay Valentin Bianchi was in perfect balance: moderate oak toastiness, a touch of the Burgundian sweet oak notes, a nice acidity and some Meursault-like nuttiness in the finish.
Malbec was the star, but this was not surprising, for Malbec is Argentina’s star, and their entree to the world’s wine consumers. In Bordeaux, Malbec is the least important of the five red grapes and has fallen into disfavor. In Southwest France, Malbec is the grape of Cahors — praised as the “Black Wine of the Midi.” The “Elsa” Malbec has a fresh nose of black cherry with vanilla notes. The palate is smooth, nicely filled out in the middle (helped by the 20% Barbera) and has a firm finish. What a bargain! The Cabernet Valentin Bianchi had dark cassis fruit with pure vanilla on the nose and very deep fruit aromas. The tannins are smooth and the body full and round. We tasted older reds that are not available for sale but quite interesting: the Malbec ‘91 and the Cabernet ‘87 stood out.
After touring Elsa’s Vineyard, we visited Bianchi’s sparkling new winery outside of San Rafael. A technological marvel, it has all the latest equipment and winery design: crusher-destemmers, rows and rows of industrial pipes, and huge stainless steel fermenters. An extensive tour whetted our appetites. Since the seasons are exactly opposite down there, it was the end of summer and harvest time. We watched trucks arrive and dump load after load of grapes into large machines. The machines de-stemmed the grapes, conveyed them to the press, squeezed out the juice and then piped the liquid to water-cooled fermenting tanks. Very quickly the winery’s smallest machines, the yeasts, began converting the grape juice into wine. Descending through the new barrel room we entered a large, lofty, vaulted, circular room designed for winery dinners. There we met the family patriarchs and the extended family who toasted us with their sparkling wine. We ate and ate and ate while thanking our hosts for proudly pouring us glass after glass of their family’s wines — wines that were clearly close to their hearts. The only problem was that we had no printed menu and I did not know how many courses were coming, so I politely and foolishly had seconds of two of the first courses. I was able, however, to eat some of each of the next three, or was it four courses, and upheld the honor of Virginia. Now, we couldn’t refuse anything, for we were their honored guests all the way from the United States. Almost every family member I met said something like: “Pleasure to meet you. Virginia? Very nice. But have you tried our Malbec? Here, let me pour you a big glass.”
You may have all this information pieced together, but let me help.
The Bianchi family came from Italy in 1910. They are Argentine and Italian.
Argentina has a huge Italian population; Buenos Aires has the largest concentration
of Italians outside of Italy. They are Old World and New World blended
together. They are terrific hosts. My dinner companions included a gentleman
who was their insurance agent, author of a text on Argentine wines and
an exporter of Argentine wine (Malbec of course) to Germany and one of
the brothers Bianchi who hunted wild boar with five dogs and a large knife.
Alas, no wild boar was served, just proscuitto, chicken, lomo (beef tenderloin)
and pork.
We drove out from Mendoza, a city of a million people, down a small country road to an even smaller dirt road from which the bus had to turn around to get back on the right road. I didn’t think the bus driver could do it, but he did. After several false starts, we finally arrived at the walls of Bodegas Esmeralda, home of Catena and Alamos Ridge wines. The wineries we visited all followed this plan: walls enclosing the winery, large iron gates and a compound inside. This winery is long and low with rose colored stucco walls trimmed in brick red paint and dark wood. The entire appearance is of elegant, well-kept maturity.
In the open and airy tasting room we tasted the wines of Alamos Ridge, Catena’s second label. Alamos are the poplars that line the borders of fields and vineyards everywhere in Mendoza forming tall, angular windbreaks. Alamos’s Chardonnay has a nice balance of fruit and oak, and fresh, delicate flavors. The Cabernet has pure fruit aromas spiced with just the right touch of new oak. The dark, spicy Malbec is more firm with black cherry aromas. We then moved to the main event, the wines of Catena “Clasico” — as the original Catena wines are now called to distinguish them from the new reserve wines, Catena “Alta.”
For the last several years, Catena has made the best wine in Argentina, and arguably in all of South America. The Chardonnay is round and voluptuous, with full body and a lingering lip-smacking finish. Toasty oak aromas swirl around the ripe, rich fruit producing an intoxicating bouquet. The Cabernet is dark purple with a nose of sweet cassis and vanilla. The body is full and rich with evident, firm tannins. Very pretty, drinkable now, but will improve. The Malbec is Catena’s darkest wine with blackfruit aromas of black cherry and blackberry. A touch of caramel and a whiff of black pepper spiced the rich, full fruit. The firm, young tannins give way to fruit in the finish. A great match for chocolate.
Lunch at Catena was fabulous. The best meal of the trip. To my surprise, the table was set with large Riedel glasses (Vinum Series: Bordeaux, and Burgundy, both $19.99 and 22 ounces). Being an enthusiastic fan of large wine glasses, I was thrilled to taste these world-class wines in the world’s best wine glasses. [End of commercial]
In these glasses we were served older vintages of Catena Alta than we had tasted earlier. The Chardonnay matched outstandingly with the soft and tender Spinach Crepes with a cream sauce that married perfectly with the spinach and cheese filling. The wine had mellowed to perfection. Full, ripe and “fat” on the palate, it had the right amount of toasty oak and buttery flavors to stand up to the cream sauce. With the second course things got even better. The Cabernet had softened and plumped up on the palate with age. Dark, soulful and heady aromas of sweet cassis spiced with vanilla oak notes matched very well with the Roasted Rabbit with Mustard Sauce. At the last they poured the Malbec with a dessert of a Flourless Chocolate Cake in an Orange Sauce with Glazed Apricots in a Wild Rose Sauce and Oatmeal Ice Cream (which we all swore tasted like grilled almonds and we promised we would call Ben & Jerry and beg them to get the recipe). The dark, spicy Malbec was quite rich with firm tannins and had hidden under the layers of black cherry and cassis fruits and vanilla an orange note that one often finds in young, purple wines — particularly young, vintage port. This note made a melody with the chords of the orange sauce, cassis and chocolate. Both reds are due out October 20th.
We talked to Dr. Nicolas Catena about his success at Catena and his influence in changing Argentine wine from the old-style, oxidized wines to the new, world-style wines we were enjoying. We discovered that he spent 1982 as a visiting professor at Berkeley. This year exposed him to the revolution in California winemaking. He returned with this basic idea: “to make a wine as good or better than the best French wines, destined for international consumers who value and know how to drink a great wine.” We all came away impressed by his urbane, soft-spoken demeanor and his dream, now realized, of producing world-class wines.
Lunch ended about 5:30 with us all sated and stuffed. We said our good-byes
and boarded the bus to return to Mendoza and dinner. Luckily dinner was
at 10:30, but the very thought of it seemed daunting. We washed up, napped
(all this eating and drinking is hard work!) and strolled around the hotel’s
neighborhood, inspecting an Italian Festival in the park until time to
leave for dinner at another of Dr. Catena’s five wineries in Mendoza. After
another fabulous meal, I slept soundly after turning in at 2 am.
We drove to Bodegas La Rural north of Mendoza for lunch. This winery produces the wines of Trumpeter and Rutini. But these are more than just labels; they are production “programs.” Certain vineyard lots go to Trumpeter and others to Rutini. Each lot is thought to have a style or character that makes it best for one or the other program. They don’t see Rutini as necessarily better quality—they strive for high quality in both—but different from Trumpeter in character. Each lot is tasted after fermentation to see if they should stay in that program or switch to the other if their style has changed.
Trumpeter is La Rural’s value program that has been exported to the US for several years. The name comes from a legendary Argentine figure, a mythical woman who plays a soulful trumpet because her heart has been broken. Imagine trumpeter Mark Isham in a bottle and you can understand Trumpeter. The bright and lively Chardonnay is delightful with fresh fruit aromas, good acidity, a long finish and a touch of oak (40% barrel fermented). The Merlot is young but tasting well right now. It has cassis and black cherry flavors with caramel and vanilla notes to compliment the round, smooth fruit on the palate. The Cabernet has deeper, plumper fruit, classic aromas with mineral notes. The Malbec is purple with blackberry, spice and vanilla aromas; some peppery notes; full and ripe on the palate, and with firmer tannins than the other two reds. All show Trumpeter’s style: smooth and mellow.
Rutini is an older brand that has until now been sold only in Argentina.
The bodegas drastically increased Rutini’s quality by making it the reserve,
high-end program. Rutini will astonish America starting in March of 1999.
The wines are fabulous. Tasting in the barrel room, some of us were blown
away, others merely amazed. We tasted barrel samples of the 1997 vintage:
a Chardonnay with half the oak of Catena; a jammy Merlot; and a deep, rich
Malbec. The showstopper was the reserve wine blended from Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Malbec and Syrah.
In quiet reverie we walked to the winery until a mechanical harvester broke the mood by roaring loudly through the rows of Chardonnay vines. Like paparazzi we rushed to the end of the row jostling for pictures of this odd contraption. We walked through the towering stainless steel fermenting tanks to the old high-roofed wooden winery housing hundreds of large, old barrels. Beneath these buildings are vast, cool, deep caves aging wines in thousands of normal-sized barrels. The winemaker described this difference between red and white wines: “the whites are technological, require more intervention; the reds are more tasting. Some are done (fermenting) in 10 days, some in 30. Your taste tells when they are done. They are like children, some you pat on the head, and some on the behind.”
We ascended into daylight and descended again into the dark tasting cellar permeated with the aromas of wine. Corks had been pulled on wines dating back to 1974. All showed the house style. All the old wines still had good fruit and that mellow maturity of age. The Cabernet Antiguas Reservas has always been a favorite. It showed the same classic Bordeaux profile as always but somehow just tasted better here. Now, it reminds me of the cellar at Cousiño-Macul. I noted the excellent rich, ripe fruit more typical of California Cabernet, but with a complexity California often lacks. The Merlot Limited Release filled the mouth with plump fruit, but fruit with a backbone. The Chardonnay tasted fresh and clean without heavy oak to hide its pretty fruit. Finis Terrae is the winery’s flagship: a rich, complex blend of half Cabernet and half Merlot that is drinkable now and for decades to come. All the reds share a common character of ripe, plump mineral-tinged fruit. This is also the character of Bordeaux’s first growths: the Moutons and Lafites of Pauillac.
If you want affordable red wines to lay down and age, choose Cousiño-Macul.
If you want Bordeaux quality at Chilean prices, choose Cousiño-Macul.
Stonelake, Valdivieso’s premier label for Japan and the US, is a grand gamble that Chile can produce world-class wines. Located in the Lontue Valley some 120 miles south of Santiago, it is one of the first Chilean wineries to produce high quality and premium price wines. Quality is their mantra. After tasting several vintages and tasting the increase in quality, I would not bet against them. Jorge Coderch, one of Stonelake’s owners, guided us through the vineyards and winery. Just about everything he said spoke to improvements in quality. A politician at heart (and in fact, I believe), Jorge enlivened his talks with a bravura running commentary on all aspects of Chilean life; particularly its drive to succeed in the global market. In a debate about differing styles of Pinot Noir, he said: “Making Pinot Noir is like politics. Some like it one way, some another.”
Tasting at Stonelake was the most instructive of the trip. From the barrel we tasted the lots that made up the final blend. Each lot had a different character; some of which were fascinating but also idiosyncratically missing some necessary trait. When combined, these lots strengthened and harmonized the final blend. The Chardonnay’s acidity nicely balanced its toasty oak with a touch of citrus. Many of Chile’s Merlots, “grocery store Merlots”, lack any scintilla of interesting character. Stonelake’s Merlot has bright cassis flavors spiced with the right touch of vanilla and hidden way down underneath subtle hints of orange and strawberry. Smooth with soft, well-integrated tannins, the Cabernet has a core of jammy cassis fruit wrapped around more of a backbone than the Merlot. Both are a symphony of harmony. The Pinot Noir is very smooth with pure fruit of black cherry and some terroir complexity.
We sat for lunch in a grove of towering hundred-year-old redwoods. A
chill wind blew, but lunch, and the wine, warmed us. We talked with Paul
Hobbs, the Californian wine “guru” of Catena and Stonelake. To the Argentines
and Chileans, Paul is a valued member of the team and not a foreign consultant
flown in to tell them what to do. What they learned from him they used
to improve their grape-growing and winemaking skills. What they learned
is in the bottle. If California is not afraid, it should be.
First, we were treated like kings. Feasting everyday on great food and great wine is harder than it sounds. We all looked forward to returning home to our simpler, and slower paced lives.
Second, even though many Chileans see Argentina as we see West Virginia, Argentina is not a backwater. It is a vibrant, forward-looking democracy. In fact they both are. Argentina is the fourth largest producer of wine in the world and produces five times more wine than Chile does. The Argentines still drink most of it, but more and they look to export. Since Chile entered the American market much earlier, we Americans think the exact opposite.
Third, the passion Alex and Alfredo Bartholomaus feel for their Chilean
homeland, its wines and those of Argentina strongly affected all of us.
I hope I have shared this passion with you. This truly was the adventure
of a lifetime.