Made me crack up as well.
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I would add Carinae, Gimenez Riili, Corazon del Sol, La Azul, and Diamandes to the list. Bodega Noemia from Patagonia was mentioned and personally I like their J. Alberto and the Bodega Noemia Noemia best. The A Lisa is a good effort at a lower price point. But Don C posted about visiting Mendoza and not Patagonia. Bodega Noemia is a very long way away (530 miles give or take) and the last time I corresponded with them, they did not accept guests.
If you have several days to visit wineries in Mendoza, I recommend that you hire Peter Cubillos https://peterwinetours.com/ as your guide. You can build your own winery list with him. You don’t have to take one of the specific tours listed on his website. I have used him on two occasions for three days of tours each trip. He is extremely knowledgeable and is Emilie who sometimes guides for him.
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Big +1 to La Azul, especially if you can do their lunch tasting. That was easily one of my favorite visits
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From Mendoza you might want to check out the Michelini Bros at Bodegas Super Uco, they make crazy wines from a Torrontes orange wine to super serious cement egg aged Malbec, Eggo. Other notable producers, Aleanna (El Enemigo), Per Se Vines, and Carmelo Patti.
An area I need to learn more about too, Don. I’ve liked but not loved the few Achaval Ferrers I’ve had. There are misses in some bottles, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed a few bottles of Yacochuya (the Rolland project) when I’ve had them. Happy hunting and tasting!
Mike
Has anyone had the Chacra Chardonnay (not the Mainque Chardonnay)? It’s the collaboration with Roulot.
Had this once several years back (I think it may have been in the 2009-2011 vintage range), when I took it to my neighbor’s house for dinner. It was dark, inky and expressionless. Completely impenetrable and slightly bitter. After one small glass, I left the remainder of the bottle at the neighbor’s house (writing off as a mess of a wine). About 3-4 days later my neighbour called and said “This wine you left over here is amazing, why didn’t we wind up drinking it with dinner?” I went over and tasted it, and it had, shockingly, transformed into something completely delicious. I’ve saved my remaining two bottles, thinking it may be the rare Malbec that truly needs age to enjoy…I don’t think I’ve ever had seen a wine improve after being open for that many days. (Most wines deteriorate a bit after 1 day, and are undrinkably oxidized by 3 or 4 days after opening).
Achaval Ferrer and Catena Zapata (the top end tour was well worth it) were our favorites although we enjoyed most of the wine we had both on tours and at restaurants. Didn’t drink there but found CARO (Catena-Rothschild project) in the states and have really enjoyed it. We have been to Mendoza twice, 8-9 years ago and 5-6 years ago and we were shocked at how inexpensive everything was. Those were the blue market days (I think they are floating now) when they had an official rate and you could exchange currency in BA for 2:1 over the official rate. Uco is worth the trip both for scenery and wine, Ruca Mallen is decent wine but a great lunch.
My wife and I did have the opportunity to finish a day of tasting at La Azul for lunch. It was a fantastic lunch. Mendoza wineries do it right. Nothing like finishing the day with a multi-course lunch paired with great wine.
Take the wine tour at Carmelo Patti… it will be a different type of experience (think boot strapped).
La Azul lunch is great
I liked trying some of the library Cab Francs, the variety of pinots, Patagonian wines and calbernet/malbec blends more than the straight malbec myself. That was many years ago, though.
Bring crisp $50s and $100s
The wine here is very cheap compared to Europe. A good argentine wine (in a restaurant) Was 300 pesos (6 euro’s) And in europe this wine would have cost me 15 euros. I went to Mendoza last year and if you love wine it is a great experience. With the awesome view of the andes mountains in combination with the huge vineyards, you will have a great time. I went there to have the full experience and wanted to have a conversation with the locals. Therefore I went to buenos aires and took some Spanish courses at https://expanish.com. I took these lessons because I wanted a genuine conversation with the original winegrowers who really appreciate if you ar able to speak Spanish and mostly because they do not speak English. These winegrowers were able to tell me a way more interesting story than the commercial wine tours.
Thank you so much for all of the great suggestions. Here is my report after painstaking due diligence. Let me start by saying I had very little experience with Argentinian wines before the trip so I am certainly not an expert. I had difficulty finding any older vintages so everything I drank was pretty young.
Best Full-Bodied Malbecs: Cobos Marchiori and Catena River Stones
Best Medium-Bodied Malbecs: Bodega Noemia and Achaval Ferrer Buena Vista. I couldn’t find the Achaval Ferrer Finca Altamira, but I would like to explore Achaval Ferrer further.
Best Bordeaux Blends: My favorites were Catena Zapata Estiba Reservada and Cheval de Andes. Malbec was originally one of the main grapes used in Bordeaux so I was curious to see what an Argentinian Bordeaux blend would taste like with Malbec in the mix. I’ll still take Merlot over Malbec but the wines were very interesting. I would love to try these wines, especially the Estiba, with more age.
Chardonnay: Catena White Bones closely followed by Catena White Stones. Regretfully, I couldn’t find the Chacra Chardonnay.
Best Cab: Cobos Volturno
Best Cab Franc: Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard (technically a blend with a little Malbec)
Best Bonarda: Emma Zuccardi Bonarda. I was inexperienced with Bonarda, the second most planted grape in Argentina. It was not overly complex but very easy drinking. A crowd pleaser.
Best Overall for me: Bodega Noemia. I traveled all the way to Mendoza to find out my favorite Malbec is made in Patagonia.
We spent a short amount of time in Chile as well. Sena was an excellent red blend and Errazuriz Las Pizzares was a very good Chard. Both worth trying as well.
Thanks again for all the help.
Colome makes good stuff. Vistalba too.
i don’t think there are any Argentina wines that needs to be tried at a “before you die” level…
plenty of decent wines, but nothing epic… am i missing out?
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- 1 on that, as well as the wines from Catena. Altos Las Hormigas are other favourites of mine.
I had a glass of Mainque Chardonnay and it was awesome!!
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Bodega Noemia makes three wines. Their A Lisa is entry level and very good for the price. The J Alberton is mid-tier and also very good. The top of the line is the Noemia and it is out of this world. For its price, it is a great buy when you can find it.
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