Travels

We spit a lot. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was the only way to get through the dozens of wines we tasted everyday without getting totally sloshed. I suppose it’s a bit like eating garlic—it’s O.K. as long as everyone does it. During our week-long wine tour in Chile and Argentina we did little except drink, spit, eat, and sleep. It was a great trip.

Early on a Sunday morning, Cathy and I met up with the rest our group at the Bonaparte Hotel in downtown Santiago. David was from Syracuse, New York, while Brian was from Pennsylvania. Tomie and Don were from California, as was Peter, our tour leader.

Peter, Cathy, Gord, Don, Tomie, Brian, and David 

We all met Victor Hugo, our local Chilean guide and driver, then climbed into the white Mercedes Sprinter minibus and headed south towards Santa Cruz in the Colchagua Valley. (Our driver in Argentina, who’d lived for three years in Toronto, was also named Victor Hugo!?)

Over the next several days we tasted wines from a number of the top wineries in Chile.

 

Wine Tasting at Neyen Winery 

With their grand architecture and state-of-the-art facilities, the wineries at Clos Apalta and Almaviva were like shrines to the grape—and their wines weren’t too shabby either. (But at around $100 a bottle, they should be!)

The Barrel Room at Almaviva 

Cathy and I had visited Viu Manent on a previous trip to Chile, and we were surprised and pleased with how much better their wines seemed to be this time around.

As one of the first fine Chilean wines to be exported to the world, Montes is a familiar brand. In fact, it’s so familiar that it tends to get lost among all the newer and trendier labels. We were all struck by the excellence of all the Montes wines, however, and by what good value they are. We’ll be looking for Montes wine again when we get home.

Apalta Vineyards next to Montes 

The wines from Casa Marin made us sit up and take notice. While Casa Marin’s “minerally” Sauvignon Blanc is better than most from Chile, its excellent Pinot Noir was a big surprise. Chile is not “supposed” to be able to produce great Pinots but it can clearly do so, at least in some areas.

 

Casa Marin 

After tasting so many great wines from Chile, we were keen to see how the wines of Argentina would compare.

We had a spectacular view on the short, 180 km flight from Santiago to Mendoza, arguably the “wine capitol” of Argentina. The flight path took us over the spine of the snow-covered Andes while, to the north, we could see the hulking giant of Aconcagua. At 22,841 feet it is the highest peak in the Andes, and in South America.

The Mendoza area is really a desert but, since Inca times, an intricate irrigation system that distributes the water that flows down from the Andes has allowed agricultural crops to flourish. Today, grapes and wine are among the most important products of the region.

 

A “Light” Meal in Mendoza 

If Chile’s signature grape is Carménère, then Argentina’s is Malbec. Mendoza is known for its big, black, tooth-staining Malbecs, and they didn’t disappoint. The wines of Achaval-Ferrar were particularly impressive (not to mention expensive).

The lovely Torrontés wines were a surprise. Torrontés is a white Spanish variety, and the Argentinean Torrontés are like a mix between Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. The wines were fresh, fruity, and aromatic, and would be lovely on a hot summer afternoon.

While we enjoyed the wines of Mendoza, the wines from Salta really stole the show. Salta is the northern-most wine region in Argentina, and its vineyards are located at elevations of 4,000 feet to almost 10,000 feet.

Peter had been to Salta before, and had arranged to have 20 of the best Salta wines sent to us for tasting. In one marathon session that lasted from 7:30 p.m. until midnight we tasted all the wines. The whites (Torrontés) were clean and crisp, while the reds were dark and brooding and had years of life left in them. There were two producers that really stood out: Bodegas El Porvenir de Los Andes and Felix Lavaque (especially the Quara range). My advice is to buy them if you see them. We’ll be looking for them when we get home.

 

Wine Tasters Hat Club 

So what are some of the take-away lessons? Firstly, the international wine-making world is a pretty small place. Young winemakers move from country to country, and from vintage to vintage, learning about wine styles, and about how wine is made in other places. A Kiwi winemaker, with help from a French consultant, could as easily have made a Chilean or Argentinean wine as a local winemaker. And even the local winemaker has probably worked a few vintages in Burgundy or Napa or Tuscany.

Secondly, Chilean and Argentinean wineries use the most up-to-date equipment and techniques. They have to; they’re competing in a global market.

But, in some ways, the Chilean and Argentinean wineries have an advantage. Labour is still relatively inexpensive in these countries, so the wineries can afford to use manual techniques like hand harvesting and hand grading that can make a difference in the wine, but that are too expensive in more developed countries. The difference is in the bottle.

 Cheers!