Casarena winery in Mendoza has replanted an old Malbec vineyard in their new Naoki vineyard, in a rather interesting terroir! Winemaker Martina Galeano talks about the terroir of Luján de Cuyo, as well as the particularities of their ‘elephant cemetary’ vineyard and the fascinating story of rescuing some older vines. She also explains in this interview why Lujan is a great wine region not only for Malbec but also Cabernet Sauvignon.
Want to deep dive into the wine region of San Pablo? Winemaker at Salentein, Jorge Cabeza, deep dives into San Pablo wine region in the Uco Valley and how the conditions in the area are best for cool-climate grape varieties such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier, but can also ripen Malbec.
San Pablo is characterized by getting an average annual rainfall is around 500 and 600 millimeters, with cooler temperatures because of the high altitude, more humidity, and less sunshine. All of this leads to delicate wines with lower alcohol and a certain freshness, and wild forest, character. Find out more in this terroir interview!
Ever wanted to know how traditional method sparkling wine is made? Wine expert and Bodega Cruzat winemaker Lorena Mulet explains the secondary fermentation in bottle and how they produce their renowned sparkling wine in Mendoza, Argentina.
Don’t forget to activate the subtitles if your Spanish isn’t up to scratch!
To read more about Bodega Cruzat and other wineries in Mendoza, visit our Argentina winery guide
Lorena, we are in the heart of Cruzat, where you do all the traditional method sparkling winemaking. Can you explain to us how the traditional method works, and why these bottles are here in riddling racks?
Yes, we are at the cellar of Cruzat winery We produce all of our sparkling wine following the traditional method… How do we do this? We first make the base wine in big tanks. And then we take this base wine, made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and put it in the wine bottles. Before putting it in the bottles, we prepare a liqueur de tirage which is a solution of the base wine, sugar, a clarifying agent and yeast.
We mix everything and put it in the bottle and then we bring the bottles to the cellar, where the second fermentation takes place. The yeast will transform the sugar we added into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is not lost because we put a crown cap, and it becomes the bubbles in the sparkling wine.
If you look at the bottle though it is cloudy with the yeast, and we need to remove the yeast before it reaches the consumer. How do we do this? We turn the bottle in order to allow the lees to remain in suspension and place it in riddling racks. They are first placed in a horizontal position and we add a mark on each bottle as a guide. And every day we rotate the bottle a quarter turn to each side. And the bottle is gradually placed upside down until the wine looks clear and the lees remain in the neck of the bottle.
Can you tell me about why there are so many bottles exploding around us?
There are bottles breaking right now because they are in the middle of the fermentation process… The second fermentation stage is quite dramatic!
And how do you remove the lees in the neck of the bottle?
The neck of the bottle is frozen and the crown cap is removed using a machine and the pressure within the bottle will help push out the frozen yeast plug.
While Malbec may be king in Argentina, that doesn’t stop the hundreds of winemakers in the region from developing new styles of wine to delight wine lovers around the world. In fact, the area is humming with innovation and cool new ideas. Here are just some innovative wine trends in Mendoza to watch out for:
Argentina is undergoing a white wine revolution and one way in which winemakers are looking to create food-worthy white wines is by making them with extended skin contact (aka. orange wines). There are varying degrees of orange wines being produced today, ranging from a few days of skin contact through to several months.
Varieties that are particularly well-suited to making orange wines include the Criolla varieties and especially Torrontés. Complex, aromatic and structured, Mendoza’s orange wines are ideal for the hearty Argentine cuisine.
The first orange wine producer in Mendoza was Matias Michelini in 2011, who now makes several different orange wines under his Passionate Wine label. Today other winemakers and brands known for their orange wine include Santiago Salgado (Finca Las Payas), German Masera (Escala Humana), Pielihueso, Finca Beth and Almanegra.
Making a juicier style of Malbec has become one of the key trends in Argentina’s wine scene over the last few years. One way to achieve that fruitier and fresher character is with carbonic maceration (as used in Beaujolais), and Mendoza’s winemakers have adopted the practice with great enthusiasm for different wines, particularly those for enjoying young.
With bright berry and floral aromas, lighter tannins and a fresher finish, Malbec made in this style is completely gluggable! Another red variety which is increasingly being made now with carbonic maceration is Bonarda — the second most planted red variety in Argentina.
Winemakers with carbonic-maceration Malbecs worth trying include Marcelo Pelleriti, Alejandro Vigil, Matias Riccitelli, Sebastian Zuccardi and Matias Michelini.
Argentina’s winemakers are not only exploring new territories in terms of vineyard plantations but also planting new varieties. Today you’ll find exciting wines being made with Marsanne and Roussanne (Ver Sacrum, Matervini), Fiano (Caelum, Alma Gemela) and Verdelho (Zuccardi) to mention a few.
These experiments with exotic varieties haven’t just started though, Argentina’s winemakers are also rediscovering old varieties that have been planted here for decades and had fallen under the radar until now. Interesting old vines to look into include Bequignol (Escala Humana), Trousseau/Bastardo (Marcelo Miras) and Cordisco (Durigutti).
Ageing wine under a veil of flor is commonplace in Jerez in Spain and Jura in France, but it is found in very few other places. In Argentina, however, there is a new wave of white wines aged under flor that are coming to the fore.
The first winemaker to release a flor-aged wine was David Bonomi who by day is the Head Winemaker of Norton, but by night he makes his own label of boutique wines PerSe with agronomist Edy del Popolo. Their dry and complex Chardonnay, aged for seven years under a veil of flor, was only a limited edition but it created a ripple in Mendoza’s wine scene and now many more producers are experimenting with flor.
Notable winemakers who produce white wines under flor today include Juan Pablo Michelini and Alejandro Vigil.