De Cultores Saber el vino April 2011 Nº 48
Summary • When the climate damages the vineyards Frost and hail are the adverse climate factorst that cause losses in the harvests. Today, important technological advances allow us to fight and control them.
Consumptions
The emblematic grape variety of Argentina
Malbec’s Day
• Tastings at home, a way of learning more
Discover which are the practical and didactical virtues of the comparative group tastings which represent an excellent opportunity to enrich the senses while comparing wines from different vintages, varieties, prices or styles.
• Vinexpo 2011: all the wines, the wine
The most important and prestigious wine fair is three decades. By mid June and during five days, the city of Bordeaux in France will become again the inevitable meeting point for the professionals of the world wine industry.
• In honor to the Argentine Malbec
The commercial director of the Luigi Bosca Winery and the current president of Wines of Argentina tell us what the global celebration of our emblematic grape variety is about: the Malbec World Day.
Collectable publication published by Luigi Bosca Winery - Familia Arizu
Printed Edition
The celebration of the MalbecWorld Day matches with the best historical moment that the Argentine wines are going through around the world, much specifically the Malbec, its premium ambassador. So within this framework, it is interesting to stop and analyze the history and the characteristics of this noble product of our vineyards. Only twenty years ago no one would have dared to forecast the phenomenal and overwhelming success that our grape flagship is enjoying today all around the world. But this as real as the fact that the hero of the Argentine red varietals had also had to go through anonymity, times supported by popular wines, periods of harsh eradication of vineyards and decades of sad oblivion in the wineries The current international stardom has
Drink with moderation. Not allowed for people below 18.
not been easy to achieve, in fact: it is the result of a path full of obstacles and troubles making up a history by itself. The introduction of the legendary Michel Aimé Pouget is part of the official history and gives no room for any kind of revisionism. Records can absolutely certify that, as well as the creation of the Quinta Normal de Mendoza, where the French specialist was able to give to the then emerging industry of Argentine continued on page 4
www.luigibosca.com.ar
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Editorial
News
Perfection and time
Collection Magnum and Double Magnum Luigi Bosca Winery | Arizu Family has a great collection of wines in Magnum and Double Magnum presentation, the format of the collectors that has increasingly more followers these days. Due to its size, it becomes a perfect option to share a long soirée with good friends, celebrations or family meetings, without forgetting its special ritual of service. The labels available in Magnum size are Luigi Bosca | Malbec D.O.C., Luigi Bosca De Sangre, Gala 1 Luigi Bosca | Malbec . Petit Verdot. Tannat, Gala 2 Luigi Bosca | Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Franc . Merlot and Gala 4 Luigi Bosca | Cabernet Franc . Malbec; while in Double size are Magnum Finca Los Nobles Luigi Bosca | Field Blend . Malbec Verdot are available.
In many occasion and different environments with arguments from many wine lovers which represent real crossroads that are very hard to answer for a wine maker. These, unfortunately, are questions that can’t be answered in a direct and brief phrase. For example, I have been inquired more than once about how much time did it take to make a perfect wine. Before this query, I always try to take some seconds to think about it and to have the most precise and accurate words, but with no other message than the one we exercise by the way we live our vitiviniculture. In those opportunities, I said that the concept of perfection (that which according to its nature has reached all that was supposed to have) represents for us a constant challenge we like to face day after day and with every harvest. It is the desire of improving more and more and not a goal in itself what makes us keep on retracing all the way we started more than a century ago in the search for the maximum expression of the Argentine wine. So perfection is a motivation for all our family; while time is its direct consequence. Each of our bottles entails years of experience, our interpretation of the intentions of those grapevines growing in the farms, the effort and the passion of hundreds of men and women collecting the grapes and an artist who decides which is the best combination of all the elements. This combination results in great wines that, in our case, have personality and complexity both in scents and in tastes and the capacity of keeping all their characteristic with the passage of years. Our collection of labels is the loyal representation of the passion we feel for the Argentinean wine; a simple harmony between a disciplined approach, a specialized team working as a core, perfection as a way of thinking, dedication as a way of living and the passage of time that is not built but expected inside each of our bottles.
Getaways for Easter
Located in the region of Luján de Cuyo, just 20 kilometers from the center of the city of Mendoza, the Luigi Bosca | Family Arizu Winery has a differential and very unique tourist proposal that has to do with the details and the exclusivity: guided visits for small groups so that they can enjoy the enchantment of the winery and taste their wines. Other interesting activity is the tour to the vineyards in Finca El Paraíso (El Paraiso Farm), where we find the château that many generations of the Arizu family lived, and then, after an explanatory talk about the grape varieties implanted there, you can taste a cup of every wine in the vineyard. For further information or to make reservations please contact turismo@luigibosca.com.ar
Lic. Roberto Arizu Presidente
Winery Luigi Bosca | Family Aruzu San Martín 2044, Luján de Cuyo | Mendoza Tel.: +54 (261) 498-1974 | www.luigibosca.com.ar
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De Cultores | April 2011
Vitiviniculture Natural enemies of the vineyards
When the weather hurts Frosts and hails are hostile weather factors that usually cause big losses on the harvests. Today, important technological advances allow us to fight and control them. A fight without a break
For the Argentine wine-growers, a spring night forecasted to be very cold or some black and thick clouds getting near the horizon are the two signs that something wrong might happen. But grape producers have more than enough reasons to feel that way, since those signals can be the prelude of the two most feared and destructive calamities lashing, from time to time, the native vineyards: the frosts and the hails. With different shades, magnitudes and areas of “preference”, such hazards are raised as two real riders of the wine Apocalypses due to the degree of destruction they can leave behind. However, beyond the fear they generate on the collective mood, they are stoically fought through different prevention and protection systems. Frost does not entail any spectacular visual or audible phenomenon; it just happens. Sometimes its consequences can’t be detected until several days later, when the plants start getting brown due to the cellular necrosis caused by the frost or even the harvest itself, when a dramatic weight loss and the quality of the grape grain is
noticed. To make matters worse, the late frosts (the most harmful) do not necessary appear after a very harsh winter as the weather does not have a mathematical logic. At the same time, the result depends a lot on the specific date, since the later they are produced, the worse the effect on the plants because of them being in a more developed vegetative state. The early frosts are much less destructive, those that occur at the beginning of autumn in the middle of the harvest. And although they can affect varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, the grape variety with middle and anticipated ripeness are almost exempt from danger. Opposite to its harmful sister, hail shows up like a Hollywood movie: dark clouds, thunders, lightning and flashes are the prelude of the fall of the terrible ice grains on whose size depends the intensity of the damage. Besides, the hail is usually more localized than the frost, and it is very common for the stone to affect a producer and not his neighbor located a few meters away.
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There have been many systems to fight these calamities for a long time. For the frosts for example, we can resort to spray irrigation: a water coverage that avoids the temperature of the plant to go below zero degrees since in order to “freeze” that water it is necessary to release energy and therefore heat. Other procedure has to do with throwing hot air from a specific height (called “inversion roof”, at 15 to 20 meters) to the ground which will be always colder. In this case, it is necessary to install special fans or to overfly the vineyard with helicopters which can give us an idea of the high costs implied. In the case of the hail, the most evident protection consists in covering the plantations with pieces of cloth or meshes. This technique is not new, but the materials currently available (plastic) improved things as regards those used in the past (wire). Preventive measures against the stone do not represent an easy task, but there are satellite controls that show the location and the movement of the storms, which allow planes to spray silver iodide over the clouds to avoid the accumulation of ice particles. Although it is not hundred percent effective, the system can be able to reduce the size of the hail. Finally we have the guns, an old a Frenchorigin method based on sound waves generated by high-rise explosions able to disperse storms, although there are many people who consider this method purely “psychological”. In sum, vitiviniculture demands a complete dedication. We shall never forget the hard battle producers must fight and the huge effort involved in making a good wine, including a hand-to-hand battle against the harshest weather hazards.
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Malbec's Day viene de pĂĄg. 1
wine a quality stamp from its varietal composition. The noble French grape variety had a wide acceptance among the producers of that time whose empirical wisdom allowed them to appreciate all the virtues it represented in the lands of Cuyo such as vigor, volume of the grain and little susceptibility to diseases, apart from producing wines from good alcohol content, intense color, nice scent and taste. With so many things on its side, it is not surprising that Malbec has been the most planted red variety in the native vineyards from1900 to1980. By the end of that period, the general situation of the Argentine vitiviniculture became extremely bleak. The times of huge volume consumption ended up in an unexpected and fast process. There was a production model left on the way aimed at great volumes in such an exaggerated way, that today it can look unreal because of its magnitude. In the meantime, the lack of horizons and the collapse of many wineries decreased the figures of the national vineyard by almost a third part: from a bit more than 300,000 to 200,000 hectares. But Malbec did worse since it went from almost 60,000 hectares to less than10,000 in 1990. In the middle of those turmoil days, our red wine had few pure exponents since its main use was reserved to the cut with lower quality and cheaper wines. However, the change was arriving. By the end of the century, the restructuring
Malbec, together with cow meat on the grill, empowered the brand country of Argentina overseas.
Michel AimĂŠ Pouget and Domingo F. Sarmiento, the people responsible for introducing Malbec in the country.
of the industry towards the quality concept changed things once more in favor of Malbec. The launching of new brands in the domestic market and export had our standard-bearer as the indisputable star. By the end of 2000, the old and dear Argentine red grape led again the list of the grape-producing census, a place that had lost during the harshest years in the hands of Bonarda. In the meantime, the international referents of the specialized press focused their attention on that red wine red that is full-bodied but round, able to fill the mouth without hardness, so rich, so versatile so nice to drink. There is no doubt that a new time of glory for the national
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wine product most deeply rooted in the soul of the consumers was starting.
A wine with its own day
With more than 25,000 hectares, our country is the biggest world producer of Malbec grape, today grown in every wine regions of the national territory. That is why Wines of Argentina has decided to pay tribute to its flagship grape through the creation of the Malbec World Day. The day selected for the celebration is the 17th of April and New York, London and Mendoza are the cities chosen to be the host for the meetings that will display the wine that has mostly grown internationally over these days. In a way,
De Cultores | April 2011
the Big Apple is a representation of North America (main market of the Argentine wines) and the capital of the United Kingdom, a symbol of the scope that the grape achieved in Europe since the remote times. Mendoza, in turn, will do its part to be the wine capital of Argentina and the home of the most successful and consumed Malbec in the world. But the potential of our standard-bearer red wine is not finished there because its perspectives of positive evolution goes beyond it and in fact, it reaches all the national vitiviniculture without any distinction of grapes or regions. This way, a thoughtful analysis of the current situation of our wines in the world (including the national market) allows us to see that the Malbec has achieved a success with many long term aspects that are independent from each other. First of all, because its success definitively placed Argentina in a privileged position in the world production of quality wines, with a specialized press focused on it and without switching their attention from our territory for a long time. There is no doubt Argentina is very promising, and international experts know it very well. Second, because such success served as a spearhead for the later entrance of other wines, both varietals and coupages. By way of example, it is suffice to mention the recent “discovery” of the Argentine Torrontés that is now lavishing the most discerning palates of the planet on sur-
prise and satisfaction. Something similar happens with the Bonarda, the Cabernet Sauvignon and above all with the never ending and infinitely versatile variety of coupages that can be designed from the criollo (national) red wine par excellence. There is no secret that Malbec together with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Tannat, Petit Verdot, Syrah or many other grape varieties in different proportions and styles produce some of the best labels available in these latitudes. Finally Malbec had also been able to encourage the country image of Argentina giving it a solid and steady support to the geographical and cultural values that so much attract the foreigners visiting our soil. On this regard, tourism and gastronomy have been two mates and partners of our wines with Malbec at the front. No tourist who enjoys fine cuisine will refrain from tasting the best local dishes together with the most representative labels of this innovative red wine he had so much heard about. Within this framework we can of course state that Malbec World Day is a double entry celebration. On the one hand, it pays tribute to an Argentinean product that is already established and makes us feel proud of. On the other, it starts the long but safe path towards the success of the Argentine wine in the five continents as a deserved reward to an industry that has been producing the noblest of the drinks for more than a century and a half.
Nueva York, London and Mendoza are the host cities of the meetings of the Malbec World Day.
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Luigi Bosca's Malbec • Luigi Bosca Reserva | Malbec: elaborated with grapes coming from the vineyard La Linda, from Vistalba, Luján de Cuyo, 960 meters on the sea level and 30 years old. After a classical vinification; it remains 12 months in French oak barrels until achieving a complexity that combines its young power with the characteristics given by the wood. It has scents of ripe red fruits, species and black pepper. The intensity when entering the mouth is complemented with the softness and sweetness of the tannins. A strong-bodied and structure wine. • Luigi Bosca Reserva | Malbec D.O.C.: this wine meets the standard of the Denominación de Origen Luján de Cuyo, which promotes and protects the elaboration of Malbec in its highest quality levels and territorial typicity. The grapes of the vineyard La Linda, from Vistalba, are carefully processed and vinified, after which the wine remains 14 months in oak and a year in a bottle before its launching to the market. It has an aroma of cherries and ripe plums. It is spicy, with some notes of blackberries, elegant sweetness and good structure. • Gala 1 Luigi Bosca | Malbec. Petit Verdot Tannat: complex and sophisticated blend based on the selection of the best parcels of the vineyards La Linda (Vistalba), La España (Carrodilla) and Los Nobles (Las Compuertas). Its base which is prevailing of Malbec with small contributions of Petit Verdot and Tannat as well as the aging during 14 months in French oak barrels makes it a robust and elegant red wine with rich aromas of red fruits and delicate spiced notes. It is modern and harmonic, strong-bodied, touching the palate with strength leaving a memory of a subtle but very persistent vanilla taste. • Finca Los Nobles Luigi Bosca | Field Blend Malbec Verdot: from the vineyard Los Nobles located in Las Compuertas, 1,050 meters over the sea level and 90 years old, the grapes that give origin to this wine with a solid base of Malbec together with the personality of Petit Verdot. It is characterized by its great structure, sweetness and its scent of species, ripe plums, coffee, and violets. After 18 months in French oak barrels and 14 months in the bottle, it acquires scents of vanilla and an extraordinary bouquet, that is why it is recommended to decant it before serving it.
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Culture Getting to know the wine
Tastings at home, a way of learning more Group tastings are an excellent opportunity to enrich the senses while wines from different vintages, varieties, prices and styles are being compared. Anyone who has wine as the center of his professional activities knows very well what a comparative tasting is; in fact, he does it daily. Winemakers, enologists, traders, sommeliers and specialized journalists need to taste many samples during their working days as part of a routine methodology. And all of them agree that there is no other way of appreciating the virtues, defects, differences or similarities among wines than seeing them from a comparison perspective. But the same does not always apply to the consumers. The main opportunities to taste wines are usually associated to the experiences of individual consumption (only one wine or several ones, but never related to each other or tasted at the same time), as in the case of business lunches, family meetings or social events. That way, many people are not aware of the existence of the tastings with a didactical spirit, although there is a group of wine tasters who meet regularly just to taste wines, learn and train the palate. The group tastings with a limit number of participants offer an important series of advantages and cost-benefits (the value of the bottles acquired is divided among the attendants), and at the same time it facilitates the meetings among wine lovers. Besides, it enables one of the most advisable experiences: comparing the characteristics of a group of labels according to their different regional characteristics, varietal features or ways of elaboration. The subjects to make those tastings are almost endless, but it is evident that it is always necessary to make them starting from a basic logical pattern. For example, there is no sense in trying to compare the special features of a sparkling wine with those of a late harvest since they are absolutely different wines, nothing similar between them. Under this logic, there are
some types of tastings that could be defined as “classical” in the sense that they are the most famous ones and that they can be made at any house. • Varietals from different grape varieties. It is almost a must when giving the first steps in tasting, when getting to know the scents, the taste itself of each variety. Today the most interesting ones can be composed by different labels of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Torrontés, Viognier and Riesling, among the white ones; Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Syrah, Bonarda, Tempranillo and Pinot Noir, among the red ones. The quantities of wines to be tasted must match the quantity of participants. • With or without wood. The features that the oak wood provides to the wine are relatively easy to detect in those that have been fermented or kept in the recipient of the same material. By resorting to the information of the labels and back labels
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you can get oaky white and red to compare them with others that have not gone through oak. Splitting hairs (preferably having information available), it is also possible to asses different types of oak according to the origin of the wood or the intensity of the toasting. • The same wine from different harvests (vertical tasting). Vertical tasting is very usual in the wineries that keep old samples and also among big collectors. With this kind of tasting we can see the changes that the passage of time causes on a specific product. • Different wines of the same harvest (horizontal tasting). Although is not as well-known and as practiced as the one mentioned before, it is a very clarifying exercise, suitable to understand the goodness and defects of a specific year. It is good to consider that weather progression of a vintage can affect very differently the various grape varieties.
De Cultores | April 2011
Events Vinexpo 2011 | France
All the wines, the wine The most prestigious wine fair in the world is 30 years old. By mid June, the city of Bordeaux will become again the inevitable meeting point of the wine industry.
From its first edition held in 1981, the organizers of Vinexpo had a clear goal in mind: to create the most important wine fair in the world. So, this event had been consolidated as the global meeting point for wine professional throughout 30 years. So much so that in odd years the French city of Bordeaux and –the even ones in America and Asia–, everyone that in one way or the other had to do with the world of wine, participates of this exhibition. During 2011, the meeting will be held between Sunday 9th and Friday 23rd June at the Bordeaux-Lac exhibition Center, located at the heart of a very distinguished city, surrounded by chateâux and the famous Burgundy vineyards. The fair occupies a total area of 90 thousand m² spread in three halls, gardens, restaurants, business center, conference rooms and wine tasting areas. The most outstanding news of the 2011exhibition is the incorporation of several tasting spaces under the name of “Tastings by Vinexpo”. With an avant-garde infrastructure, these places have all the comfortable places to make the tastings and the label presentations exhibited at the fair. To give a general outlook of the dimensions of the Vinexpo, in 2009, there were
2,400 exhibitors coming from 48 countries and with a coverage of 1,300 journalist of 54 different nationalities. The main objective of this unavoidable date for the main characters of the wine industry is to foster the meetings, encourage business and to strengthen both international trade and individual markets. In this new edition where many of the participating powers are going through a moment of economic uncertainty, the premise of Vinexpo is to vitalize the market from a comprehensive analysis of the commercial and consumption trends. As every year, the most enthusiastic countries as regards the participation are
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France, Spain and Italy, which account for almost half of the world production, although Germany, Austria, Portugal, Hungry, Greece, United States, Chile, Brazil and our country are not left behind, and will have pavilions exclusively dedicated to their national products. In the case of Argentina, there will be more than 50 wineries present to promote not only Malbec and Torrontés but also other proposals of great quality. For this and many other reasons, Vinexpo is the unique chance to do business, to participate in the most important fair of the industry and, above all, to meet the best exemplaries of the world under the same roof.
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De Cultores | April 2011 www.luigibosca.com.ar
Profiles Interview with Alberto Arizu
In honor to the Argentine Malbec The commercial director of Luigi Bosca Winery and the current president of Wines of Argentina, the institution in charge of promoting local wines abroad, tell us about the global celebration of our emblematic grape variety: the Malbec World Day.
Apart from being the commercial director of Luigi Bosca Winery, Mr. Alberto Arizu (h) is the current president of Wines of Argentina (WofA), an entity composed by more than 200 wineries that belong to all the wine regions of the country, which account for approximately 95% of the total exports of Argentine wines and whose main mission is to contribute to the global success of this industry through the construction of the “Argentine wine” brand trying to raise its positive perception in the market of consumption. As a result of the success Malbec is having in different parts of the planet, WofA had the initiative of declaring the Malbec World Day every 17th April since 2011. New York, London and Mendoza will be the host for all the meetings that will display the wine that has mostly grown internationally over these days. What is the Malbec World Day? It is a world celebration paying tribute to the most emblematic grape in Argentina. An event to commemorate its past, its present and its future.
Why was the 17th of April chosen? The answer has to do with the history of Malbec, a grape variety that has its origin in Cahors, Bordeaux, in the Southwest of France. The soups prepared there achieved recognition since the times of the Roman Empire. Then they were consolidated in the Middle Age and finished their consolidation in the modern age. With the wedding between Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Southwest of France was left under the authority of the English King and since then, there was a shift of the British market towards those wines and there was a construction of the culture of the appreciation of the grape variety. When the phylloxera plague devastated the French viticulture by the end of the 1800, the Cot (Malbec) fell into oblivion. However, by mid of that century, a visionary took it to our country: Michel Aimé Pouget, an agronomist hired by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento to manage the Quinta Agronómica de Mendoza (Agronomic Farm of Mendoza) and to improve the national wine industry. This initiative was welcomed by the then governor of Mendoza Pedro Pascual Segura. On the 17th April 1853 a draft was submitted before the Provincial Legislature aimed at founding a Quinta Normal (Regular Farm) and an Escuela de Agricultura (Agricultural Farm). Pouget and Sarmiento’s role was a key part of this process and that is why they chose that date, not only because it represents the landmark of the transformation of the Argentine vitiviniculture, but also because it was the starting point for the development of its flagship grape. Which are the activities to be developed in Argentina and the world? There are several and in different coun-
tries: Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Algeria, Germany, Czech Republic, China, France, Armenia, Holland, Spain, Malaysia, Panama, Serbia, Ecuador, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Australia, Vietnam, Russia and Ukraine. Among the main activities to be developed in the main host cities we can highlight: the event of the Consulate of Argentina in New York that, apart from offering tastings, it will illuminate the building with lights of a dark wine color and the MWD logotype; the treading of the grapes in City Winery of United States and in Chapel Down Winery (England), with fruits specially transferred from Mendoza and whose wines will be part of the celebration of the 2012 edition of the MWD; and the cocktail in Tupungato Winelands of Mendoza where the people present will make a toast with Malbec in three balloons set at 30 meters high. Is Malbec a fashion or does it have possibilities of being ranked among the elite of the great wines? Malbec is already considered a great wine because it has been able to gain many followers around the world. Argentina produces great quality that is valued by the most discerning palates. Although it can be branded in many places as “a fashion wine” today, the well-earned prestige by the local copies is being strengthened and consolidated on solid ground. Can it be considered as a symbol of the Argentine identity? Malbec is a symbol that identifies our country; a national flagship that make us feel very proud of.
De Cultores Nº 48 - April 2011 Directors: Fabricio Portelli and Giorgio Benedetti | Editor in chief and owner: Leoncio Arizu S.A. - Alicia Moreau de Justo 740 Of 7/8, Dock 5 - (C1107AAP) Buenos Aires, Argentina - (54-11) 4331-2206 e-mail: luigibosca@luigibosca.com.ar | Printed in Gráfica Mediterránea, Zárate 1356, San Martín, Buenos Aires, CP 1650 | Intelectual Property Register Nº 739.330. The total and/or partial reproduction is permitted citing its source. Issues with free distribution
Drink with moderation. Not allowed for people below 18.