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Episode 71 Leon's Winementaries
This week, I tasted two Argentine wines from DirckIII. One white and one red, both of the house Dona Paula Ugarteche, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza.
The white one was a delicious Sauvignon Blanc where everything was in perfect balance. The only disadvantage was that I could not film it, the bottle was empty much too quickly.
DirckIII advised it with asparagus, we drank it without eating, and it was great.
The red is the Cabernet Sauvignon from the same series the Los Cardos.
Who Doña Paula exactly is or was, or at least why the company is named that way, isn't clear to me yet, even after reading the extensive website,
but I do know now where the name for this series Los Cardos comes from.
Los Cardos is a thistle that is doing very well here in Mendoza on land suitable for viticulture.
If you want to plant a vineyard here, you just have to look for the Los Cardos thistles.
At the founding of the company in 1990, the people of Doña Paula did this, but there was still some more to it.
Only after 7 years of extensive soil survey the first vineyard was purchased in 1997.
First harvest was the harvest of 1999 and since 2002 the wines were successfully exported to England, America …and the Netherlands.
It has grown into a company with an annual production of 7 million liters, exporting to 60 countries.
The total 703 hectares of vineyards are owned and Doña Paula is for this reason an estate.
The first vineyard purchased, El Alto, is the largest with 435 hectares.
80 hectares of this mother-vineyard consists of vines that are now over 30 years old.
Doña Paula is a modern company where nature is in the first place.
Sustainable Agriculture is, as with many Argentine wineries fortunately, the most natural thing in the world.
Let nature do it by itself as much as possible is the goal and that is also easier here, because of the perfect climate.
Various diseases which still occur in Europe regularly, exist here rarely.
Vineyards here are at 1100 meters altitude, to the Andes.
The days are warm and sunny and in the nights temperatures vastly reduces. Perfect conditions for the vine.
Both wines are very young or 'farm-fresh' if you like. From the year 2011, but now of course so much as a year old.
Because Argentina is in the Southern Hemisphere, the harvest of the Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 probably already started,
while here in the northern hemisphere the vines for example the Beaujolais are only just starting to sprout.
A visit to Argentina is already on my wish list, but I think I just need to start planning once, otherwise I will never do it.
Somewhere in February / March 2013 and is still feasible and because of the harvest I think, the best time to go.
I will finish the bottle tonight and can heartily recommend the wines to pick up at your local DirckIII.
Thanks for watching, salut!