Mendoza - Texas Wine Lover

Mendoza – Day 3

March 26, 2013 by Jeff 1 Comment

Our final day of three days in Mendoza was to travel farther from Mendoza city to the Uco Valley which was about 90 minutes away. Along the way our guide, Ivana Basualdo, taught us what a mate was, which is a very popular drink in Argentina. The drink is similar to tea with different types of herbs instead of tea bags. It is brewed in a special cup which comes in all kinds of designs. In fact after learning about mate we ended up seeing many stores which had mate cups. After pouring hot water in the cup, the herbs are stirred with a special straw which has a strainer on the bottom. It is through this straw which you drink the mate. It is very common to share a cup of mate with close friends and family members by passing around the cup. I believe the mate was a big hit because at least two couples ended up buying one later in Mendoza city.

San Polo Winery

The first winery we visited was San Polo Winery. It is located in La Consulta which is a small sub-region in the southern Uco Valley and is 1002 meters above sea level. We were greeted by export manager Juan Del Bono who would be our guide while visiting. We learned the winery was the third oldest in Uco Valley and the building was built in 1902. They also create wine in the traditional style.

Juan Del Bono of San Polo

We toured the winery’s crush facility complete with two grape crushers and then basket presses with no bladders but a large hydraulic press which presses the grapes from above. Concrete tanks are also used at San Polo Winery and the ones we looked at were 15,000 liter tanks. We visited the barrel rooms which were below and by other concrete tanks. The barrel rooms were in fact originally huge concrete tanks. We learned that San Polo exports to 25 different countries.

Ian and Ryan get pressed

The winery has a capacity to produce five million liters of wine and currently produces three million. They get grapes from their five different vineyards including the one at the winery. All five vineyards comprise 180 hectares of land.

Hand labeling at San Polo which is also done at most other wineries

After the tour we visited the tasting room and all sat around a table. We then tasted these San Polo Winery wines:

2012 Torrontés
2011 Malbec unoaked named Piuquenes
2011 Cabernet Sauvignon from their reserva line. The wine was aged 6 months in French and American oak.
2011 Auka wine which was 60% Malbec and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged 6 months in barrel.
2010 Alphonso which is a Gran Reserva Malbec. It was aged 12 months in barrel. We learned the difference between Reserva and Gran Reserva is Gran Reserva is aged longer in oak.
2009 Night Harvest which is a 60% Malbec, 20% Merlot, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged 18-24 months in oak.

It was a wonderful tasting and we all enjoyed our visit to San Polo Winery.

Canopies over vineyard

Next was a visit to a modern winery in Mendoza called Salentein located in the province of Tupungato. Let me just spoil the ending and say this is the most impressive winery I have ever visited. It looks like a nice building on the outside but the inside of the winery is just incredible. We went to the first building which houses a restaurant and art gallery. The group had lunch at the restaurant which again was fine dining.

These are the courses and paired wines:

Grilled provolone paired with 2011 Salentein Chardonnay
A large ribeye steak paired with 2011 Salentein Malbec

Salentein vineyard on the way to the winery

It was then time to join up with a group for a tour of the winery. Behind the first building are acres of vineyards and then the winery building. We learned from the guide that Salentein owns three wineries. One in fact was across the road from where we were and then there is one more in another location. We passed a Salentein Fruit plant earlier on the way to the winery so the company handles different produces.

Looking down at barrel room of Salentein

Upon entering the winery we went past the showcase at the entry and visited the tank room. I could not begin to count how many stainless steel tanks there were because they were all aligned in a circular pattern around the huge room. In the middle of the room was a railing surrounding a large hole which while looking down you could see the lower floor. The first thing noticeable on the lower floor was a grand piano and then the start of a circular pattern of oak barrels leading to stacks of barrels along the sides of the walls.

Large barrels at Salentein

Next to the tanks on the top level was a room with large barrels which are used seven times and between each use the barrels are sanded down inside to reach fresh oak. We walked down the stairs to the lower level which we had seen from above. We learned Salentein uses approximately 4,000 barrels as the number varies between the wines they make. Overall, just the barrel room itself was so impressive in size and barrels that no photo can do it justice. The barrels were stacked along the wall and then there were a number of levels leading down to the very lower floor, much like a sunken floor. Each level was circled by wine barrels. The whole setting was just an incredible view.

Barrel room at Salentein

We then prepared to do a tasting at the winery. On the same level as the barrel room there are two tasting rooms next to a large conference room. We looked first at the large room which contained photography equipment and a few people. Ryan and Ian first went in there and surprisingly met the owner of Salentein who occasionally stops by the winery. The Dutch owner of Salentein is Meindert Pon. His brother Ben Pon owns Bernardus Winery in California. Later when the tour guide heard the owner was there, he was surprised and made the comment that he has worked there for two months and still hasn’t met the owner.

Back in the tasting room, we tasted a 2011 Pinot Noir and 2011 Merlot. These wines on top of the 2011 Salentein Chardonnay and 2011 Salentein Malbec we had at lunch gave us a great tasting of the wines which Salentein can produce.

On the way out of the winery, we visited the art gallery in the front. There was an art store on the opposite side but I did not get a chance to see what they were selling.

We drove back to Mendoza city and prepared for the most incredible dinner most of us has ever had. I have seen many shows like Top Chef with fine dining but have not had the chance to experience many. One was actually the lunch at Ruca Malén Winery two days prior but the dinner this night took top honors. We were supposed to have dinner at the home of Chef Pablo Ranea and Alejandro Cohen, but Alejandro was feeling under the weather so Chef Pablo Ranea prepared and served the same meal at their restaurant Azafran instead.

Jerry Levy, Chef Pablo Ranea, Ian Eastveld

We all sat in the wine room around a round table among all the wine selections on the walls. The restaurant does not have a wine list so people come in to select their wine from the shelves.

The meal “outside” of the restaurant Azafran is called the PIRCA Food & Wine experience. The dinner started at 8:30pm and finished at 12:30am. That’s four hours for dinner. It could easily have gone longer but since Gloria and I had to catch a very early flight, the group decided against a break before dessert and go right to dessert.

Stuffed olives hanging from miniature olive tree

The dinner was a six course wine paired meal which included the most amazing food:

Welcome – Green apple and celery vodkatini. This drink went down so easy and was delicious.
Crispy stuffed olives with goat cheese paired with 2012 Mariflor Sauvignon Blanc from Rolland Wines. The presentation was amazing. Out came little bonsai olive trees and each stuffed olive hung on a branch. It was easy to enjoy multiple stuffed olives.
Mussels in tomato consome on top of seaweed millefuille and olive powder paired with 2012 Agua de Roca Montesco Sauvignon Blanc from Passionate Wines. It was another amazing presentation with a rock set upon a slate dinner plate. On top of the rock was the layered seaweed millefuille and mussel on top.
Sweetbreads with “nisperos” chutney, Caesar salad, and garlic chips paired with 2012 Laborum Torrontés from El Porvenir de los Andes
One side seared ahi tuna with grilled watermelon and soy reduction, salmon sashimi with guacamole and passion fruit paired with 2011 Zorzal Gran Terroir from Zorzal. The salmon and guacamole was presented in a can similar to the kind from which you buy sardines. We weren’t sure at first if we had to pop the lid but it was just resting on top. It was another amazing course.
Duck magret with quince, sautee vegetables, beet and raspeberry sauce paired with two wines: 2011 Enamore from Renacer and 2004 Colección Perdriel Merlot from Norton.
Dessert consisted of two items: Grape’s “Arrope” Cheesecake paired with Malamado Viognier from Zuccardi, and Amarula dn dulce de leche cake with raspberries and coffee paired with Antares Porter Beer. Yes, the final dessert was paired with a beer and it went amazingly well with the cake.

Mussel on top of seaweed millefuille

Seared ahi tuna with salmon sashimi with guacamole in can

This was easily the best fine dining meal I have ever had and Chef Pablo Ranea had done a fabulous job. We also learned from Chef Pablo during the meal that 90% of the Torrontés in Argentina is made in Salta.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, when you are with two chefs/sommeliers like Ryan Levy and Ian Eastveld, you eat the best food and drink the best wine. The dinner was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip. We had an unbelievable time with our group in Mendoza and would like to thank Ryan, Ian, Ivana, and all others involved for an experience we will never forget.

Filed Under: Trips Tagged With: Argentina, Fine Dining, Malbec, Mendoza, Salentein, San Polo, Vineyard

Mendoza – Day 2

March 24, 2013 by Jeff 8 Comments

Our first day in Mendoza was full and our second day was no exception. Instead of visiting different wineries, we were going to spend the entire day at the Cecchin Family Vineyard where The NICE Winery makes their Malbec and Demi-Sec Sparkling wine. We were to do harvesting and blending to determine what would comprise their 2011 Malbec.

Cecchin Family Winery

We arrived at Cecchin Family Vineyard with large vineyards in the front before we reached the winery. We met owner and winemaker Alberto Cecchin who also has a house on the property among the vineyards. In fact we all learned that Alberto was actually born in a house on the property. That house has been renovated into a guesthouse. Our guide for the day was Mario Lazzaro who is the winery’s export manager and also helps translate since Alberto Cecchin only speaks Spanish.

All the growing at Cecchin including non-grape growing such as olives and other fruit and vegetables is done organically. Trees are planted among the vineyard which helps keep the produce grown organically. They also make their wines organically with no sulfites added.

We took a quick tour of the outside of the winery. A Muscat de Alexandria (Moscatel de Alejandría) grapes canopy overhead was nice to walk under and we were also able to taste the hanging grapes. These are the same grapes used to make The NICE Winery’s Demi-Sec Sparkling Wine.

Cecchin Family Vineyard has vines from 1923 and had another big planting in 1954. They are always replanting vines though. The older vines produce fewer clusters of grapes but the quality is better because the yield per plant is lower. Ryan said the current yield is about one bottle of wine per plant. The rows are planted close to each other so there is no room for a tractor between the rows. Instead they still do plowing with horses. The farm is organic and sustainable with everything tilled back into the soil. The winery uses grapes from 77 hectares of vineyards. All the Malbec used though is at the winery location and is in 11 hectares. Cecchin Family Vineyard also chooses to do their irrigation using traditional flood irrigation.

Don Carlos and Alberto Cecchin

The original plan was to harvest in the morning but since it was a cloudy day and the weather was predicted to get warmer later in the day, the decision was made to blend first and harvest later when it was warmer. Before blending we met winemaker and enologist Don Carlos who helped Ryan and Ian and the group during the blending. The idea for blending is to select the barrels to use along with any tank wine including percentages of all to make the finished wine. Ryan and Ian had visited the winery the day before so they had already narrowed down the barrels to select from for blending.

There were two choices for a tank base which is used approximately 20% in the final blend. The first tank was 100% Malbec and the second was an 80% Malbec and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Ryan and Ian had narrowed down the Malbec barrels to 6 bottles which represented 6 groups of 10 barrels each. They end up using about 60 barrels which produces around 1,500 cases of wine.

Starting the blending

We all sat around a large table and started the blending by first tasting the 2009 NICE Winery Malbec Reserve so we would know what they were trying to accomplish. We also tasted the 2010 NICE Winery Malbec Reserve that Ryan & Ian had blended the prior year, but has not been released. We then tasted the two tank samples. Speaking of tanks, Cecchin Family Vineyard uses concrete tanks like a lot of the older wineries do. We were instructed to provide tasting notes for each tank sample. We then tasted the barrel wine samples 1 to 6 and tasting notes were taken again. Finally a Syrah was tasted to help determine if they wanted to blend a little into the Malbec. Ryan and Ian decided to blend together barrel samples 1 to 6 and then to compare against the base tank samples.

It was time for lunch and since a lot of Malbec had been tasted, it was decided to give our palates a rest and enjoy lunch. Cecchin Family Vineyard has a restaurant on site which is literally in the vineyard and under a walnut tree called La Sombra at Cecchin. The lunch was a traditional Mendocino lunch. What an incredible experience to eat outside in the vineyard. People also had fun picking walnuts from the tree to eat. There are many olive trees among the vineyard and different olives were provided to enjoy before lunch.

Lunch in the vineyard

The first course we had started with a wine made from 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pedro Ximénez. This was a new white grape to us but the blend was delicious. We learned that the wine Don PX is made with Pedro Ximénez. The wine was paired with tomatican which is a ground tomato and vegetable appetizer made entirely from ingredients grown on the property.

The second course was a beef dish made with Muscat de Alexandria. This course was paired with a 100% Carignan wine.

The 2012 Demi-Sec was provided as the dessert wine. We learned the wine is made with only one fermentation under pressure and no addition of yeast and sugar unlike a lot of sparkling wines. Cecchin has been making their Demi-Sec Asti-style since 2006 from the Muscat de Alexandria grape. In 2012, residual sugar was 43 grams per liter and alcohol is 12.6%. We also learned there is no sugar or yeast added which eliminates headaches, so drink up! The wine was paired with pears cooked in Carignan wine along with mascarpone.

It was another fantastic meal and we could get used to this style of eating!

Alberto Cecchin shows how to harvest

The weather had not warmed up as expected but we decided to work off our lunch and harvest some Malbec grapes. All of us grabbed a bin, were given shears to cut the grape clusters, and we went to work. Everyone would eventually slow down and get tired of bending over to harvest the grapes so each would head back to where the trailer was waiting for the bins. As payment for our work, we each received a collectable coin from Cecchin Family Vineyard.

After harvesting we had to see the tall vines which we had seen in a photo at The NICE Winery. Malbec vines don’t grow tall compared to Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfindel, and certainly not as tall as the Criolla grapes grown on the property. These grapes are used for making grape juice concentrate and they are large grapes. That helps explain why the vines are so tall. They easily were 6 to 7 feet tall and were planted in the 1960′s. The photo we had seen at The NICE Winery was taken during the winter but this time large grape clusters were hanging from the vines which made the foliage even more impressive. We all enjoyed trying to find the tallest vines from which to have photos taken.

Jeff and Gloria in the tall vines. Yes those are vines, not trees.

When we were finished taking photos we headed back to the winery to do some more blending. On the way back we walked by our dinner being cooked by men dressed in Argentine Gaucho attire, which was to be an asado dinner. Asado is traditional barbecue which is cooked on a grill or in our case over an open fire. The smell of the meats cooking was intense and we were able to taste some sausage.

Cooking the asado dinner

We then tried different blending variations to pinpoint which blend would provide the best wine. We were told to realize this wine was still unfinished and would not be available at The NICE Winery until later in 2014, so a little guess work was needed to predict how the wine would taste after more aging. We tried a few variations and I believe a decision was made as to the correct percentages with the blend. Ryan and Ian were going back to the winery one last time later in the week to make the final decision so we will all have to wait and see what the final product will be next year.

Ryan trying a different blend

It was now dark (the day had flown by) and it was time for dinner even though it seemed like we had just eaten lunch. We entered the winery’s tasting room where we learned the tasting room part of the building had been built in 1898. The tank room was built in 1923 and other parts of the winery were built in 1958 and 1963. A large dining table had been placed in the middle of the tasting room.

We first were able to taste the 2011 Muscat de Alexandria which is a dry version with the same grapes used to make The NICE Winery’s Demi-Sec. The wine is fermented dry instead of continuing fermentation like the Demi-Sec is. Next Alberto Cecchin treated everybody to a 2005 Malbec that was 100% organic with zero sulfites added, which helped prove how well an organic wine ages over time. We then tasted a Malbec and Cabernet blend, also with no sulfites added from 2011.

The asado dinner started with empanadas and continued non-stop with various dishes like the sausage, beef, and pork ribs. The ribs had been basted in an incredible seasoning while cooking over a wood fire. Dessert was flan with their 2012 Demi-Sec.

A surprise was then held with two dancers doing a number of folk dances to entertain us. It was an excellent ending to a long day at Cecchin Family Vineyard even though it did not really seem long. The hospitality of the winery showed exactly what a family winery can provide, and we all left feeling like we were part of the family.

Everybody dancing after entertainment

Filed Under: Trips Tagged With: Argentina, blending, Cecchin Family Vineyard, Malbec, Mendoza, Vineyard, Wine club

Mendoza – Day 1

March 22, 2013 by Jeff 1 Comment

We recently had the opportunity to travel to Mendoza, Argentina along with one of our favorite Texas wineries, The NICE Winery located in Houston, Texas. If you are a frequent visitor to Texas wineries, you may not have heard of them yet unless perhaps you came across their wine in stores like HEB, a wine festival/signing, or in a high end restaurant.

The NICE Winery is owned by Ryan Levy and Ian Eastveld and they are also the winemakers. Their first wine vintage was 2007 and they opened the winery in 2009. All their wines right now come from Mendoza and California. They do not ship juice or must and then make it in their Houston winery, but instead travel to the specific regions and make their wine there and the finished wines are shipped back to Houston. They frequently travel to Mendoza to check on the progress of their wines and in March planned to go to Mendoza for harvest.

Ryan and Ian decided to invite wine club members to join them in Mendoza to enjoy the experience. When they were first thinking of the trip, Gloria and I said immediately we would like to go. Later when the trip was definitely happening, they provided details of three full days in Mendoza and we were allowed to make whatever other plans we wanted while in Argentina. One of the things we have wanted to see is the beautiful Iguazu Falls so we arranged our trip to visit the falls.

In order to get to Mendoza, you first need to fly into Buenos Aires, an overnight flight from Houston. We planned on spending one night in Buenos Aires before leaving for Mendoza. Also on the plane were wine club members Mike and Carol Barry. We both went to separate hotels and later met for dinner followed by a tango show at La Ventana. The next day Mike and Carol had an early flight to Mendoza and Gloria and I took a private city overview tour. We then spent time shopping. One of the noted items to buy in Argentina is leather goods and Gloria had already researched where to go. We ended up buying a total of five leather jackets. Because the jackets are made right there, we were able to ask for modifications and they would custom make the jackets for us. We would pick up the jackets on our way back through Buenos Aires before heading home. Here’s a tip which we wish we knew before the trip. If you are considering buying any leather goods, bring U.S. dollars to pay cash for them. The leather factories have to pay for leather in U.S. dollars and they give a higher currency rate exchange to pesos than banks and other currency exchange locations. This also holds true for most other goods you may buy.

When it was time to go to Mendoza, we went to the domestic airport where we met Ryan and Ian along with Ryan’s parents Jerry and Gail Levy. We took the same flight as them to Mendoza and upon arrival at the airport we were picked up by Ryan and Ian’s friend and guide Ivana Basualdo in the bus we would be using during the week. We traveled to our hotels in Mendoza city and our Houston group of eight people was now in Mendoza.

Ivana Basualdo, Mike & Carol Barry, Gloria & Jeff, Gail & Jerry Levy

On Tuesday we traveled to our first winery and learned about Mendoza along the way. According to our tour guide, the Mendoza province is 148,827 square kilometers and there are 18 districts in Mendoza. Mendoza became well known for its wine industry around 1990 and 70% of the wines in Argentina come from the Mendoza province.

When you are in Mendoza the Andes Mountains are in the distance making for a nice background. There are some mountains which are visible with snow and they are that way all year. We learned the rainfall in Mendoza is low and to supplement the lack of rain, they use the Andes mountain snow runoff to provide water for irrigation. The Huarpe Indians developed the irrigation system originally for Mendoza. In Mendoza city itself there are a number of trees but none of the trees are native to the city. Irrigation canals were built in order to provide water for the trees. The city has a 746 meter elevation and is 200 kilometers to the border of Chile.

Andes Mountains

While driving we saw many vineyards and some were covered with bird netting which is commonly seen in parts of Texas to prevent birds from eating the grapes. However we learned the other reason they are used in Mendoza is to protect the vines from hail. There were two types of netting seen, the kind that covers the vines tightly like in Texas and another which is more like a canopy over the vineyard. Not all vineyards had the netting and we were told the reason was because they were very expensive. It made us think of our visits to the High Plains of Texas vineyards where netting is not used. Since hail is a concern in the High Plains, netting the vines to protect from hail seems logical however the expense may be a reason why it is not done. Also done by some of the wineries is to have rockets of silver nitrate shot into the clouds to suppress the hail.

Harvesting is usually done from February to May depending on the grape variety. A lot of wineries are just producers and are not available for tourists to visit. The ones which are available prefer appointments so they know when to expect people and also have a guide available who speaks the correct language for the people visiting. There are often security guards and gates at the entrances to let you in.

Alta Vista Winery

The first district we would be visiting during our stay would be Maipú which has an elevation of 759 meters. The first winery we visited was Alta Vista Winery. We have had some Alta Vista wine in the United States so it was interesting seeing the winery which was located in another country. Alta Vista Winery is considered a medium-sized winery in Mendoza.

Vineyard at Alta Vista Winery

Alta Vista Winery is owned by French owners who came to Argentina looking for Malbec and founded the winery in 1997. In fact the office of the French Consulate in Mendoza is located in the winery. Alta Vista used to concentrate on quantity but quality is now the preference.

We took a tour similar to other winery tours where you visit the production room with tanks, barrel room, and eventually a tasting. The first thing we learned was many wineries in Mendoza which are not brand new use concrete tanks instead of or in addition to stainless steel tanks. The concrete tanks are lined with epoxy which keeps the fermenting wine from entering the concrete. Alta Vista Winery has both concrete and stainless steel tanks and they use the concrete tanks for both maceration and fermentation of their special reserved wines. Alta Vista produces 200,000 bottles a year (greater than 16,000 cases).

Concrete tanks at Alta Vista

Alta Vista has six vineyards which they use for single vineyard wines and also for blending. They had not started harvesting yet at the time of our visit but expected to by now.

It was time for a tasting and these are the wines we tasted:

2012 Torrontés. If you have not had this white wine yet, it is one of the most popular white wines coming from Argentina. Most Torrontés is grown and made in the northern regions of Argentina such as Salta. Torrontés is grown at Alta Vista and we were able to taste the grape before entering the winery. The Torrontés grape was developed from the Muscat and Criolla varietals. If a winery does not grow Torrontés locally, they usually get it from the other regions to supplement their white wine inventory
2012 Bonarda. We had not heard of this grape but it is usually used for blending, however Alta Vista makes a 100% Bonardo wine. The guide told us it is known as the “dangerous wine” since it has a short finish without realizing the effect it is having on you. We learned from Ryan that Bonardo is known in the United States as Charbono.
2008 Malbec made from four vineyards and 15.5% alcohol
2007 Alto Malbec. This was a special wine our tour guide Ivana got for us to taste. It is a $100 wine that is made from 70% Malbec and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is in a double glassed wine bottle and got its fame when it scored 95 points from Robert Parker.

On our way out of the winery we saw the tasting room where professionals come to do tastings, complete with tasting sinks. One person commented it looked similar to a dentist’s office.

The next winery to visit was Ruca Malén Winery. Ruca Malén is also considered a medium-sized winery producing 700,000 bottles a year (greater than 58,000 cases). Ruca Malén Winery is also owned by French owners who started the winery in 1998.

Ruca Malén Winery

We had a tour similar to the tour at Alta Vista Winery. There are 21 hectares of vines in the vineyard. A hectare is a measurement of land where 1 hectare is equal to 2.5 acres. The vineyard does not use drip irrigation but instead uses flood irrigation. This relates to the previously mentioned irrigation using the mountain runoff water. The water is held by dams and when the dams are opened, the water runs along canals usually beside the roads. Vineyards have their own gates which they can then open to flood the base of their vineyards.

Ruca Malén gets their Torrontés from a northern vineyard where it grows better. They harvest Chardonnay first starting in February. Ruca Malén uses mostly French oak barrels but also some American and Hungarian oak. One interesting note was they use a mobile bottling line similar to what some wineries are using in Texas instead of having their own dedicated bottling line set up at the winery. The winery exports 60-70% of their wine. The bottles are not labeled initially because when it is determined where the bottles are going, i.e. United States, Europe, and so forth, the correct language label is then placed on the bottles.

Ruca Malén vineyard

Following the tour was lunch at the winery outside in a roof covered dining area but open on the sides. The weather was great and it was an incredible view being surrounded by the vineyards with the Andes Mountains in the distance. One thing we soon learned is when you travel with two chefs turned sommeliers/winemakers, you are going to have the best meals. The five course lunch was a fine dining meal with each course paired with a wine from Ruca Malén Winery. It was a fantastic meal.

Ruca Malén course with instructions

These were the five courses:

Small goat cheese truffle paired with 2012 Yauquén Torrontés
Roasted beet terrine on smoked butternut squash cream paired with 2011 Yauquén Bonarda
Quartirolo cheese, crisp sausage and roasted carrots salad paired with 2006 Ruca Malén Malbec. This wine had been aged in bottle for 7 years. This course came with instructions as to what the different food was on the plate.
Grilled steak paired with 2010 Ruca Malén Reserva and 2008 Kinién Cabernet Sauvignon
Slices of seasonal fruits accompanied with raspberry sorbet

Otero Ramos Winery

We were all full from the meal and headed next to the last winery of the day, Otero Ramos Winery. Ryan and Ian make their Sauvignon Blanc and Testamento Cabernet Sauvignon at this winery. Testamento is another label for The NICE Winery. We met owner Manual Otero Ramos’s daughter-in-law Fernanda who gave us a tour of the winery. They do not buy any grapes but use all estate grapes. There are 32 hectares of property with 30 hectares of vineyard. We toured the lower floors and saw where they age the wine in the bottles. Since they make reserve wines, the bottles need to be laid down for aging. Many bottles lined the walls and other areas. I am not sure if it was just coincidence but workers were preparing the NICE Winery boxes ready to be filled later with bottles of wine. Concrete tanks are also used at Otero Ramos Winery. The winery produces around 120,000 bottles of wine a year.

Wine in bottles aging at Otero Ramos Winery

After the tour we met owner Manual Otero Ramos along with his daughter Roxana before we began a tasting of their wines. We were seated around a large table when we tasted various wines from Otero Ramos Winery.

Ryan Levy, Manual Otero Ramos, Ian Eastveld

These are the wines we tasted:

2013 Sauvignon Blanc which was still under fermentation
2012 Sauvignon Blanc
Chardonnay with just a touch of oak. This was made with 1,000 liters in French oak for 6 months and 10,000 liters in stainless steel. They then blend the two together in the tank. An importer from South Carolina talked to them about importing the wine and initially did not have any interest since there is enough Chardonnay in the United States. Now though he wants to import it because it is lightly oaked. Ryan and Ian are also considering the Chardonnay.
2011 entry level Malbec unoaked but still aged for one year
2008 classic line Malbec which has been aged three more years. The wine was 6 months in oak and then rested for 3 years in the bottle.
2011 blend made of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir which is one level above the classic line giving more oak. It was bottled in November 2012.
2010 Petit Verdot from the reserve line. The wine came from 30 year old vines and new French oak was used to make it softer. They had it in oak for one year, in the tank for 6 months, and then in bottle for a year. Petit Verdot is usually used for blending but this wine was 100%. The NICE Winery is considering bringing in the Petit Verdot for their Testamento label.

Since Ryan and Ian have been working with the Otero Ramos family for a while now, you could see how they were treated like family with the hospitality given. Everybody had an enjoyable time at the winery and felt very welcome.

Otero Ramos Winery

We arrived back in Mendoza city and after a brief break, we all went to a restaurant which Ryan and Ian had made reservations and we ate outside in the nice evening air. The wonderful meal was a great way to end our first day in Mendoza.