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Chile Vs Argentina: The Copa America of Wine

by Amanda Barnes July 2, 2015

It is an exciting prospect for football fans and oenophiles that Chile and Argentina battle it out head to head this weekend in the final of Copa America 2015. For football fans, it is self explanatory. But for wine lovers, it just takes a drop of creativity to see this as a great opportunity to make a battle of the bottles between Chilean and Argentine wine! Do you want to work out whether Malbec from Chile or Argentina is better? Or perhaps Cabernet Sauvignon? Or any other red wines?

Just for kicks, I’m going to put some of Chile and Argentina’s top wines head to head in ‘Copas de America’ wine-off each day till Saturday…

The Copa America of Wine Finals…

Oddball Reds

Both Argentina and Chile’s wine teams are accruing many misfits that are upping the game. Chile is delving into its old roots – Carignan, Pais, Mouvedre, Grenache and aforementioned Malbec (below). The revolution down south is not to be smirked at, and you’ll discover some key varieties that will be – if they aren’t already – main players in the wine scene.

Argentina has another national player in its ranks – Bonarda. Once the workhorse variety of Argentina, Bonarda was replaced largely by Malbec but it has never been out of the game. Its territory is mainly around San Juan where you get great value, full-fruit wines. Another oddball in the family is Tempranillo, finding a natural home is La Consulta and San Carlos in the Uco Valley.

Chilean oddballs Argentine oddballs

The Game:          Slow game from the South                       Diversifying the Malbec game
The Player:         Honest (no tricks) grass roots players   Round, full fruit, good value players
The Tactic:        The long game                                             Filling the gaps in the field

The Verdict?

Chile’s oddballs are more diverse and more populated. There are more players to keep your eye on, and some will make you dribble. Argentina’s oddballs provide good value, but the nation needs to up the diversity in its game.

Key Players (5 a side)

Chile
De Martino: A forerunner of the Vigno Carignan movement, with plenty of other interesting wines too
Errazuriz: Try the Garnacha red blend for yum power
Bodega RE: Making a whole lot of delicious oddballs
Cacique Maravilla: Small producer of rustic Pais and Pais blends from Itata
Garcia Schwaderer: A gamut of delicious reds from Itata

Argentina
Cara Sur: Super Criolla and Bonarda from Barreal
O Fournier: A top apostle of Tempranillo, try their A Crux!
Karim Mussi: Another Tempranillo-fan making some excellent examples in Alto Cedro
Las Perdices: Good Bonarda and also training up lots of other oddball varieties
Passionate Wines: Fresh Bonarda Beaujolais-stlye! Try their Semillon while you are at it!

Semi Finals…

Cabernet Sauvignon

One of the main varieties across the globe, Cabernet is notoriously easy to grow but difficult to really nail. Chile is leading the pack with the Cabernet Sauvignon having achieved a very well known style of Cab, especially from Maipo (not to be confused with Maipu in Argentina!) and the central valleys. It is one of Chile’s best value varieties, and also one of the most expensive premium varieties.

Argentina on the other side of the Andes seemed to have relegated their Cabernet from the game since Malbec took the headlines. But it has been a consistent player, producing solid wines – albeit less striking or attention calling as Malbec. Try some high quality Cabernet from the warmer regions (Salta & Cafayate, Maipu) and you’ll find spicy, ripe wines that age well and are interesting to drink.

Chilean Cab Argentine Cab

The Game:          Bright, berry burst fruit. Cassis kick.                         Sweatier, earthier fruit
The Player:         Great range – from fruit driven, to power structure    Ripened player, round
The Tactic:          Ticks all the boxes, a show pony                                      Underrated talent

The Verdict?

Chile would still take the trophy on this one. Argentina needs to bring a few more players to the game and get their Cabs in training. One Cabernet player that is taking a lead in Argentina is Cabernet Franc – their latest Cab recruit that is premier league.

Key players? (5-a-side)

Chile
Aristos: Elegant and reigning supreme… (If you can’t afford this player try juicy Clos de Fous by same winemaker)
Aquitania: High cassis notes from Alto Maipo, beautiful
Antiyal: Understated Cab beauty with a biodynamic philosophy
Domus Aurea: Excellent single-site Cabernet producer in Clos Quebrada de Macul
Concha y Toro: A Cab for every price point, and an irresistible football endorsement for this article

Argentina
Pulenta Estate: Rich Cabernet and excellent blend to boot
Noemia 2: When the year is right, this Patagonia Cab is a winner
El Porvenir: Intense Cab from sunny Salta
Sophenia: An Uco Valley producer with well performing Cabs
Clos de Chacras: Good value Cabs from this Chacras winery

Quarter Finals…

Malbec

You might associate this variety more with Argentina (perhaps like football) but while Malbec is the forward striker for Argentina and has made as much of a name for itself as Messi or Maradona (maybe there’s something in M?) it is also rather more of an unsung hero for Chile. The French variety arrived in Chile before Argentina in the mid 1800s and was planted across the Southern regions of Bio Bio, Maule and Itata, later making its way into Colchagua, Cachapoal and even coastal regions like Casablanca.

While Malbec has been waiting in the wings in Chile for centuries, it is of course Argentina where it made its name – across the country in northern regions like Cafayate & Salta, and La Rioja, and middle regions like Mendoza, San Juan and San Rafael, and even in Argentine Patagonia – Rio Negro, Chubut and Neuquen.

So… the play off?

Chilean Malbec Argentine Malbec

The game:            More shy but, racy acidity            Smooth, supple and generous
The player:           Darker fruit character                    Rich, red fruit hero
Tactic:                   Surprising Malbec                          High-hitting violets

The verdict?

Both countries (and their different regions) produce very different Malbecs, and very worthy wines. But if you throw all the Malbec players in the game, Argentina still come out tops. Although they shouldn’t play lazy – Chile has some dark horses in the game.

Key Players (9-a-side)

Chile
Viu Manent: One of the classic Malbec producers in Chile, lots of ranges
Rogue Vine: Divine old vine Malbec from Itata
Odfjell: Lovely fruit-driven Malbec from Lontue
Truly Irresistable Malbec Bio Bio, The Co-Op (UK): Excellent value Malbec from Bio Bio
Loma Larga: Casablanca winery specialising in red varieties, and a good Malbec
Maquis: Malbec from Colchagua with a fresher style
J Bouchon: Solid Malbecs from Maule
Vultur: Aromatic and fresh Malbec with jasmine notes
Calcu: An attractive offering from Colchagua

Argentina 
Achaval Ferrer: Key players in Malbec, lush and showy
Altos Las Hormigas: ‘The Malbec Specialists’, great single vineyard range
Bodega Bressia: Rich Malbecs, often blended for more complexity
Catena Zapata: Brought Malbec to the World Cup, and with good reason
Colome: High altitude Malbecs
Zuccardi: Their top alluvional is a straight-shooter
Mendel: Classic Malbec producer
Riccitelli: Excellent Malbecs from this young producer
Marcelo Pelleriti: Malbec front-liner from Vista Flores

July 2, 2015 0 comment

Features By Region Argentina Features Travel & Culture

The Art of Argentine Slang

by Squeeze Experiences June 30, 2015

written by Squeeze Experiences

It began as a whisper among prisoners, homesick immigrants and some of the first tangeros, but lunfardo, or Buenos Aires slang has now permeated popular culture to the extent that porteños of all ages and social classes use its thousands of words and phrases. Much lunfardo is accompanied by hand gestures, a true porteño shows no emotion without waving their hands around, and can be roughly divided into categories regarding the most important aspects of Argentine life. But how can you master the art of Argentine slang?

Saying hello. –Che is the word Argentines use to call each other, a bit like ‘hey’ in English, and is usually used at the start of a sentence. It is often followed by boludo, which can mean friend, mate or idiot, depending on the context.

Booze and partying. There are lunfardo words for life’s essentials: morfi – food, birra – beer, pucho – cigarettes, boliche – nightclub and bondi – bus. Perhaps you might wait for the bondi as you smoke a pucho, and think about the birra you’re about to have with your morfi, before going to a boliche.

Girls and boys. Mina, pibe and chabón are slang for boys and girls. A male can be a pibe, or a chabón, a female a mina, piba or chabóna.

Being cool. If someone refers to you as a grosso/a, capo/a or copado/a you should definitely not be offended, these words mean a person is cool and are the highest of compliments in lunfardo.

Making excuses. Tengo fiaca literally translates to ‘I have laziness’ and is often used as an excuse to get out of engagements. Another useful word is colgado/a, which means flaky, and me colgué means ‘I flaked,’ another acceptable excuse as to why you didn’t do something.

Disaster. In the early 1900s, quilombo was used to refer to Argentine whorehouses; nowadays the term means mess or disaster. ¡Es un quilombo! is slang for: ‘It’s a total mess’. This will still raise the eyebrows of some grannies on the block though.

Flirting. The art of chamuyo or smooth-talking, is a skill that seems to come naturally to most porteño men. Useful related phrases are: sos un chamuyero – ‘you’re a smooth-talker’ or dejá de chamuyarme – ‘stop trying to fool me/chat me up’. Other useful flirting phrases include tirar onda which means to flirt of send someone good vibes, and touch and go, a phrase for a one-night stand or casual sexual relationship.

Balls. A lot of lunfardo relates to a man’s balls, yet men and women alike refer to their pelotas or bolas with phrases such as rompe bolas – ball breaker or hincha pelotas – a ball itcher, or someone annoying. ¡Que hincha pelotas! translates literally to ‘how you make my balls itch’, or ‘What a ball breaker!’

Money. There are several words to talk about cash. Mangos are Argentine pesos, guita is money and a luca, one thousand pesos. No tengo ni un mango, would mean ‘I’m totally broke/I don’t even have one peso’ but it is more fun to think about said person being sad about not even having one tasty mango.

Farting. Pedo means fart, and lunfardo is littered with fart-related vocabulary. En pedo (in a fart) means drunk, ni en pedo (not even in a fart) – translates to ‘not even if I was drunk.’ Other phrases include estoy al pedo (I am at fart) – ‘I’m not doing anything’ and vive en un nube de pedos (he/she lives in a cloud of farts) – meaning ‘they have their head in the clouds’.

While silly words might be a Porteño’s forte, do not underestimate the power of the gesture either. Here’s a quick fire guide to getting yourself understood with the ultimate BA body language:

Quickie – to suggest that someone is scared, or has quickie, press your fingers against your thumb repeatedly, with your hand at waist height.

Ni idea – The Argentine equivalent of the shoulder shrug, to say you don’t know something, place your right hand under your chin and then move it away from your body.

Montoncito – to say, ‘what the hell are you talking about?’ press your thumb and fingers together and move your hand up and down around waist height

Tacano – to call someone a cheapskate, touch your right elbow with your left hand repeatedly.

Ojo – to say ‘watch out’ place your left index finger under your right eye, and pull the skin down.

By Rosie Wilder

June 30, 2015 0 comment

Argentina Wine Guide Mendoza Features By Region Argentina Features Wine Travel & Culture

Winery architecture and design along Mendoza’s wine route

by Amanda Barnes June 25, 2015

written by Amanda Barnes

The expression ‘garage winemaker’ comes from just that – making wine in a garage. A grape’s humble abode doesn’t need to be much more than a warehouse. However that doesn’t stop vintners and companies building the most elaborate mansions to house their prized wine. Mendoza is no exception, and along its wine route you will find some outstanding architectural gems to discover, which in many ways, can only be described as temples to wine.

With over 500 years of winemaking history, the ‘winery’ is not a new concept in Mendoza and at one point in history it was actually home to the largest winery in the world – the now abandoned Giol, which pumped out 300,000 hectare litres of wine annually in its prime over 100 years ago. However, the historical wineries were usually between two extremes – very very large, or very very small. Today you can still visit large historical wineries like Trapiche, Bodega Las Toneles, and Rutini, and you can also visit smaller historical wineries like Familia di Tomasso, Carinae, and Clos de Chacras.

For any seasoned Mendoza oenophile, you’ll notice that each of the historical wineries mentioned above, or in my post Top Historical Wineries in Mendoza are based in Maipu and Chacras de Coria. The new frontier for Mendoza’s winery architecture – moving beyond the traditional adobe mud walls and high cane roofs – is in the Uco Valley.

Over an hour from Mendoza city, in a beautiful green oasis framed by the imposing Andes mountains, the Uco Valley is an architect’s dream. Filled with plush foreign investment and showpiece wineries, there is no expense spared and style aplenty.

The first landmark winery of the valley, was Salentein. Finished at the turn of the century, Salentein is the first masterpiece by the renowned Mendoza architects Bormida & Yanzon. Designed as an axis like the Southern Cross, there are five parts to Salentein: the workhorse winery, the show pony winery, the minimalist and modern chapel, the cosy posada, and Killka in the centre. Meaning “gate” in the native Quechua language, Killka is a curious building that appears as a beam supported by two wide pillars to give the impression of a portal.

The glass walls draw your eyes to the surrounding landscape and a small path leads you through the vineyard in the middle of the desert that heralds the winery and marks Mendoza’s transformation into a wine region. This glass centrepiece to Salentien combines a restaurant, wine bar, art gallery, and a sculpture garden with stunning panoramic views that almost, just almost, distract you from the wine you are drinking inside. The combination of glass, stone, cement and open air play with space and light and make you feel as if you have stepped into a sculpture itself. But this is just the beginning…

Dubbed the ‘wine cathedral’, Salentein’s winery is a beautiful earth-coloured brick construction with a slanted green-hued roof – echoing the jagged mountain setting – and surrounded by native desert vegetation. As the tour guide leads you through, you peer down to the cellar in the centre, which is beautifully atmospheric with a large compass that resembles the Greek cross and is symbolic of the Jesuits who lived on the land centuries ago. A piano in the middle might be a surprise but when you ask out loud why there’s a set of ivories in the cellar, you’ll answer your own question as you hear the stunning acoustics that make it one of Mendoza’s best spots for concerts.

Continue through the beautiful winery chambers and you’ll finish in the barely lit tasting room with long marble tables, where you could be forgiven for thinking you were about to take communion. Instead you will take Malbec, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.

Another of the same architects, Bormida & Yanzón, star wineries is DiamAndes. On the outside, the stones and gravel taken from the excavation site create an attractive pink tint, but inside, in the cellar room, the cylindrical concrete pillars and a concrete floor painted in blue epoxy are lit by a central shaft of light, which infiltrates through the icon of the winery – an abstraction from a diamond sculpture created by twisted stainless-steel bars. A modern architecture jewel indeed.

My favourite one to visit though is O Fournier. Its otherworldly shape is both deeply functional yet avant-garde. This multi-tiered winery uses one of nature’s greatest assets – gravity – to pull the wine through its process, avoiding any pumps or wasted energy. The wine moves through a gravity flow system from the top level where the grapes roll in up the Star Trek-style slopes, down to the second level for fermentation and finally down to the atmospheric cellar-cum-art-gallery for ageing. The most notable architectural feature is the giant black flat umbrella formation on top, which provides shade and temperature control but also creates a statement: the flamboyant structure appears from a distance like a swooping bird, evocative of Mendoza’s emblematic condor.

This is quite a view to behold as you drive up, or even better if you arrive by horseback with their outdoor activities, or sat from the glass cube restaurant that serves up Mendoza’s closest thing to molecular gastronomy paired with fabulous wines and even more fabulous views of the Andes. O Fournier is a fascinating winery that is architecturally sexy, in a geeky Star Trek kind of way.

The impressive nest of new wineries in the Winemaker’s Village is also becoming notable for their unique architecture. Take SuperUco as an example. Designed by the three winemaking Michelini brothers and formalised by architects Maximiliano Mateu and Lucia Carrazco, this boutique winery appears as a nest or rising crown among the vines. The circular winery has perfect viewpoints over the biodynamic vineyards from every standing point and the use of glass walls gives minimum separation from the vineyards – reflecting the minimal intervention philosophy in their winemaking.

Nearby the Vines of Mendoza and Casa de Uco resorts offer the ultimate in vineyard luxury, with private chalets and plunge pools that maximise the stunning Uco Valley background and give you a tip top place to rest your head and get ready for another day of hopping between Mendoza’s stunning wineries.

June 25, 2015 0 comment

Argentina Mendoza Experience

Argentine Cooking Experience: The art of fire, liquid gold & wine

by Squeeze Experiences June 23, 2015

written by Squeeze Experiences

Do you want to get to grips with the renowned gastronomy of Argentina? This masterclass in Argentine cooking takes you beyond the basics of BBQ, and into the realms of olive oil tasting, empanada-making, wine tasting, fire starting and a handful of other typical Argentine treats. An interactive afternoon that will whet your appetite for the local gastronomy.

Argentina is a country proud of its cuisine, but it is rarely something taught. This masterclass dissects some of the key aspects of Argentine cuisine and tastes through local ingredients to give you a unique insight into the foodie culture in Argentina.

Spend the afternoon with our bi-lingual chef and skilled butcher who will help you brush up your knife skills, get your hands dirty in the cooking (but not the cleaning!) and tempt you with an array of delicious dishes, all paired with top wines from Argentina.

Includes:

Premium olive oil tasting
Empanada masterclass and wine pairing
A couple more surprises from the asado
Local dessert and mate
Local wines
Bi-lingual chef guide leading the cooking class

Details:

This activity is in Mendoza (10mins from Plaza Independencia). Enquire about transport.
Minimum 2 person booking
Please advise on any dietary requirements in advance

$120USD per person

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June 23, 2015 0 comment

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