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Old Jun 12, 2018, 7:29 am
  #601  
 
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Argentina 2018 vintage: Good news and return to 'normality' - Decanter

Great news from the production side! . Hopefully, the problems with marketing and price competition internationally will be sorted or sort themselves out. As with many things in this beloved country, there are still too many sounds of people shooting themselves in the foot.
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Old Jun 12, 2018, 8:13 pm
  #602  
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Indeed... the recent currency volatility does not help, but still - the current situation is "paradise" when compared to the Dollar Clamp and other nonsense that were part of the Game when the K Regime was in charge......
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Old Aug 26, 2018, 8:52 pm
  #603  
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Post Robert Parker 100 Point Wines from Argentina

Robert Parker's latest issue of The Wine Advocate awarded a perfect 100 Point Score to these two labels from Argentina.....

Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc, vintage 2013
Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec, vintage 2016
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Old Aug 27, 2018, 7:46 am
  #604  
 
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Originally Posted by Gaucho100K
Robert Parker's latest issue of The Wine Advocate awarded a perfect 100 Point Score to these two labels from Argentina.....

Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc, vintage 2013
Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec, vintage 2016
Very interesting regarding the 2010 Vintage

www.twitter.com/winemdq/status/1033529974320508928?s=21
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Old Aug 27, 2018, 4:15 pm
  #605  
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Cant say I agree on the 2010 being better than the 2013, other than it is drinking better because it has had more time to develop in the cellar.

Originally Posted by Flying Machine


Very interesting regarding the 2010 Vintage

http://www.twitter.com/winemdq/statu...320508928?s=21
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Old Aug 30, 2018, 2:36 pm
  #606  
 
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Originally Posted by Gaucho100K
Robert Parker's latest issue of The Wine Advocate awarded a perfect 100 Point Score to these two labels from Argentina.....

Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc, vintage 2013
Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec, vintage 2016
Wow - that's amazing! So lucky I got to have lunch at Casa Enemigo earlier this year, and got to drink a few glasses of the 2013 vintage, one of them poured by Alejandro himself, totally incognito (only realized it has him later!).
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Old May 12, 2019, 1:16 pm
  #607  
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Salta has long been making headlines for the Argentine Wine Industry.... not as well know as Mendoza, Salta makes big/intense red wines and is also the "capital" for Argentina's Torrontes grape - which I sometimes call the Argentine Version of Pinot-Grillo (not necessarily because of grape typicity or wine style, but because it mostly shares the same market segment).

I recently met Matias Etchart, member of one of Salta's most prominent wine families and had a chance to taste 3 of his wines from his personal project, Bodega Arcayaco - Amar & Vivir. Matias is making 3 wines, one is a straight Malbec, a second is a blend of Malbec & Cabernet, and a 3rd label is a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes for these wines come from the Quebrada de San Lucas, located in the Calchaqui Valleys. Arcayaco is a small, family owned proyect, with very limited production...

Matias is very passionate about what he does, doing all of the work almost exclusively on his own. These are super-high altitude wines, grapes are planted at 2100 meters above sea level. Stuctured and intense, all the wines have a robust level of Alcohol, but have the matching acidity and backbone to deliver very good overall balance.

Aside from growing Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, Matias is also experimenting with other varieties and I expect he will have a couple of surprises in the very near future.

Very impressive wines, I think Matias is on his way to creating the next trophy wine of Salta.... ^ ^ ^
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Last edited by Gaucho100K; May 12, 2019 at 1:38 pm
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Old May 12, 2019, 1:59 pm
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Matias Etchart



Great Wines from a Super Nice Man! Just days before meeting Matias at the Aldo’s tasting at the Hyatt hotel, Musu of Vinoteca Mr. Wines turned me on to this brand, and I was so happy that he did…

Last edited by Flying Machine; May 12, 2019 at 2:13 pm
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Old May 12, 2019, 2:23 pm
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Acercate Al Vino

My friend Ale Lahitte wrote the following about the tour Musu and the Vinoteca Mr Wines Group had taken with Matias Etchart
TASTINGS , PLACES

It's all about love and live

Ale Lahitte
11/29/2018
D hey say that traveling
the heart is strengthened,
Then walk new paths
makes you forget the above.

I agree in part with this song Litto Nebbia. I do not think to walk new paths make forget the previous, rather it is a continuation of you traveled before. Is to add experience and, like everything else, it depends on us what we do with that. What I am sure of is that, if the heart is strengthened traveling, traveling with friends strengthens the soul.

When traveling alone, everything is more introspective, you connect with yourself and you link more deeply you're living with what is happening to you. It happened when I went to
Tacuil , where I could lie on the grass and connect with silence. But traveling with others is different: arise anecdotes, jokes, talks that strengthen the links.

If you tore the trip with a group of people who share your same passion for wine, surely the end of the tour will be your friends.

That's the #MrWinesTour : a group of people who share the same passion and joined by La Cueva de Musu that from the previous palpitate the trip with meetings in their homes and taking leave on the return flight and cemented a friendship.

And the #MrWinesTour was rolling now by the endless Route 40 toward what would be one of the most impressive parts of the trip: Arca Yaco, the house of Amar y Vivir.

Yaco ark

Yaco Arca is a small winery located in hardreach the Quebrada de San Lucas . To get, you go out towards Cachi Cafayate and San Carlos Doblás reach westbound, seeking the foothills. After a long stretch of gravel reach a village of only about 20 adobe houses called San Lucas. Raisins village, you conductby the Wadi River and finally go up on a steep slope down to the cellar.Matias EtchartIts owner is Matias Etchart , a young winemaker who grew up playing in the vineyards of Cafayate winery, owned by his grandfather Arnaldo B. Etchart , and a few years ago he decided to return to its origins. He looked a little suitable for cultivation of the vine and in 2010 came across this unexplored paradise farm.

Seeing that land and test the water coming down from the mountain realized that this was the place to fulfill your dream. He recovered irrigation canals, built roads and planted two hectares in 2013 mainly malbec and some cabernet sauvignon. He built his house next to the vineyard in 2015 made the first wine in a tank of the house and in 2017 built the winery.

The view is breathtaking: the gaze runs through valleys and gorges, crosses over and over the hills and far away is lost in the ubiquitous Nevado de Cachi. The winery is located on a small plateau and further down, the family home and vineyard. A deep canyon guarded by huge cactuses reminds us how small we are. Again, silence returns and the same sense of immensity experienced in Tacuil.Yaco Ark and the Quebrada de San Lucas

Amar vineyards

Matthias led us around the warehouse, a beautiful building that respects the colonial and vallista, adobe walls 70 cm thick and tile roofs and inner rod to which all materials used in the area.
    • There are a dozen French oak barrels "and American oak that came by mistake and well ... it was there we use" , tells Matthias. Some are traditional roast and other convection to find different expressions of wine. In addition to the barrels, concrete has two pools and two small stainless steel tanks.

      Matthias uses two harvest times for the malbec with about 10 days apart and a month later harvest cabernet sauvignon. Manual collection is performed in baskets of 20 kilos. The grape enters the grinder and then gravity will pools, tanks or barrels depending on what line it is. To love and live fermentation and aging is in barrels and Imagine is in sink and tank.pools

      Live your dreams

      Then we walked to the beautiful family house is located on the side of the ravine surrounded by two hectares of vineyards. There we waited some amazing empanadas, a rich asado (Cabeza included) and wines:
          • Imagine the sweet sensation that leaves the wine Malbec 2018 : Matthias is a romantic and choose names for their wines that refer to boleros that accompanied him throughout his life. In this case, this Imagine is 100% malbec without barrel aging . It is intense, explosive, pure fruit, lots of character and identity.
          • Amar y Vivir 2016 and 2017 : BLEND 85% malbec and cabernet sauvignon 15% aged for 15 months in oak . It is complex, elegant, with fruit as the main protagonist and the Valley Calchaquí own DNA. A great wine that represents the best of the new salteña oenology. 2016 was a little wilder than 2017 is more subtle.
          • Amar y Vivir Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 : Bomba. First add as a varietal and is, in my opinion , the most outstanding of the entire line. It has everything you expect from a large salteño cabernet : pyrazines, great body, structure, lots of fruit and very elegant. Aging in barrels for 15 months he has well rounded but surely continue adding elegance and complexity with time in bottle. A wine to fall in love.
                • The wines and the winery background

                  Because that is

                  The afternoon passed between laughter and stories. The group will hold, confidence and with it comes the jokes that make fun trip. Matias is one more: the visibility of their project have a lot to do with "cave" and Musu, who was one of the first to bet on their wines. Undoubtedly, Matias Etchart is a caver producer.I think despite all melancholy
                  so much pain and so much injury,
                  just about living ... and love.
                  For some reason I think back to this song. He had met Yaco Ark few months before traveling to the #MrWinesTour and the feeling was the same: It cost me say goodbye to that magical place, Matthias and his people. It was much to learn and surely come back again to the house of Amar y Vivir .

                  An amazing place lost in the middle of a ravine surrounded by hills and built with love. Because that is: to live to love, to love and live.
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Old May 12, 2019, 2:49 pm
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Old May 12, 2019, 2:50 pm
  #611  
 
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Fantastic Wine for $11.50 USD from Matias Etchart

For about $11.50 USD or approximately 525 ARS this is one fantastic wine from Matias Etchart

Last edited by Flying Machine; May 12, 2019 at 3:34 pm
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Old May 12, 2019, 2:57 pm
  #612  
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Pricing above is no longer current.....
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Old May 12, 2019, 3:35 pm
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Originally Posted by Gaucho100K
Pricing above is no longer current.....
Thank you, I updated the pricing
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Old May 13, 2019, 12:57 pm
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Tim Atlkins Argentine Wine Report was Released Today

In my opinion, Tim is one of the finer Critics in the Business.Tim spent several years weeks a year in Argentina and visits with all of the winemakers directly, not one whom sits in the tasting room and reports from there.. He is on the ground and visiting as many producers as he can.He has released his Argentine Wine Report and here is a summary courtesy of La Nation

The best Argentine wines according to the English critic Tim Atkin

[img]safari-reader://bucket1.glanacion.com/anexos/fotos/40/2930840w380.jpg[/img] In his report that is released today highlights an increase in the quality of wines, especially in the 2017 and 2018 harvests Source: LA NACION Considered one of the most important wine critics in the world, Tim Atkim visits Argentina to taste our wines since 1992, which makes him one of the most authorized people to comment on. In addition, he says, "I spend as much time as possible visiting wineries and talking to producers, which I think differentiates me from other wine critics." For his latest report on Argentine wines, which is broadcast today on his site , Atkin tasted 1586 wines from 292 wineries. [img]safari-reader://bucket1.glanacion.com/anexos/fotos/32/2930832w160.jpg[/img] Cover of the Argentina 2019 Special Repord Source: LA NACION 67.46% of the wines obtained this year a score above 90 points (out of 100), against 59.88% of their previous report, which represents a jump in outstanding quality. "I attribute the increase to the quality of the harvest 2017, and especially the quality of 2018, "said the English critic who has the Master of Wine title via email." In the face of falling consumption and increasing competition from beer, along with the low In the price of bulk wine, Argentina needs to focus on quality and high-priced wines, which may imply starting the unproductive vineyards, "he said.

Among the tendencies observed during the elaboration of his Atkin report, he highlighted the appearance (or rediscovery) of new terroirs, such as La Carrera, Uspallata, Chubut, El Espinillo, Pareditas or Quebrada de San Lucas, as well as the good wines that they are elaborating from the Criolla Chica variety (a grape traditionally used for low quality wine), along with the fact that the wineries depend less on the advice of international consultants, and trust more in the local talents.

And if talent is involved, Atkin shared with La Nación the Podium of his 2019 report:
  • Winemaker of the year: Alejandro Vigil de Catena Zapata and Bodega Aleanna
  • Young winemaker of the year: Mauricio Vegetti Luideof Gauchezco and Lui Wines
  • Legend of enology: Raúl Dávalos de Bodega Tacuil
  • Red wine of the year: Estancia Uspallata Malbec 2017, Estancia Uspallata
  • White wine of the year: Adrianna Vineyard White Bones Chardonnay 2017, Catena Zapata
  • Pink of the year: El Esteco Blanc de Noirs 2018, El Esteco Winery
  • Sparkling of the year: Cruzat Single Vineyard Finca La Dama, Cruzat Winery
  • Sweet wine of the year: Terrazas de los Andes Grand Terroir Petit Manseng 2017, Terrazas de los Andes
  • Red wine discovery of the year: Achával Ferrer Quiron 2014, Achaval Ferrer
  • White wine discovery of the year: Purposes Chenin Blanc 2016, Michelini I Mufatto
  • Sparkling discovery of the year: Piatelli Brut Nature, Bodegas Piatelli
Next, lists by score and in alphabetical order, are the wines that obtained the highest scores (97 and 98 points)
  • Adrianna Vineyard White Bones Chardonnay 2017, Catena Zapata (98pts.)
  • Estancia Uspallata Malbec 2017, Estancia Uspallata (98pts.)
  • Achával Ferrer Finca Altamira Malbec 2016, Achaval Ferrer (97pts.)
  • Adrianna Vineyard White Stones Chardonnay 2017, Catena Zapata (97pts.)
  • Wanted Live or Dead El Indio 2016, Wanted Live or Dead (97pts.)
  • Caro 2016, Caro Winery (97pts.)
  • Cheval des Andes 2016, Cheval des Andes (97pts.)
  • Colomé Altura Máxima Maximum Malbec 2016, Bodega Colomé (97pts.)
  • Great Enemy Single Vineyard El Cepillo 2015, Bodega Aleanna (97pts.)
  • Nicolás Catena Zapata 2016, Catena Zapata (97pts.)
  • Per Se Iubileus Malbec 2017, Bodega Per Se (97pts.)
  • Per Se La Craie 2017, Bodega Per Se (97pts.)
  • Per Se Uni del Bonnesant 2017, Bodega Per Se (97pts.)
  • Purposes Chenin Blanc 2016, Michelini I Mufatto (97pts.)
  • Salentein Single Vineyard Los Cerezos Malbec 2016, Bodega Salentein (97pts.)
  • Terraces of the Andes Grand Chardonnay 2018, Terrazas de los Andes (97pts.)
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Old Jun 6, 2019, 9:39 am
  #615  
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I agree that Atkin does (mostly) great work on Argentina.... but I will also admit to not getting his super high marks on the Per Se and Salentein juice. I mostly agree with his ratings, but these two stand as no no's to me. Also, some of his routing scores on wines from various winemakers are a complete puzzle to me.... Mariano Di Paola being one of them. The Durigutti brothers also have wines which i think are 97-98 pointers to me and dont get similar ratings....

Then again, there is no such thing as perfect palate calibration, so I will take this with stride.
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