Now Available: Boutique Argentine Wines
By Joel Chusid
 Argentine
wines are today regarded as some of the best values around, offering excellent
quality at an attractive price. While the larger South American wineries have
been exporting wines for many years, for the most part smaller artisanal wines
have not traveled as far except a bottle here and there in a traveler’s
suitcase. Stewart Elliott, Jr., proprietor of Bottled Poetry, is changing that.
As a native of Napa Valley, he knows wines. For several years he owned a
vineyard in Argentina and recognized that the Andean terroir yielded magnificent
grapes. A perfect climate and soils in the area around Mendoza as well as Lujan
de Cuyo and high-altitude Cayafate has resulted in a large number of new
wineries cropping up, as well as discoveries of some of the lesser-known ones
that had been around for a while.
Elliott began importing wines, primarily to the Dallas,
Texas area relatively recently, in 2005. The vast majority of these wines are
snapped up by restaurants. You won’t find them in most wine stores, although a
few of them have made it to the shelves of a handful of retail stores. At a
tasting I attended, owners and wine buyers from some of Dallas’s top dining
establishments seemed to be quite familiar with many of the labels while I, a
part-time Argentine resident, recognized only a couple of names.
Most of the wines are aged in oak barrels, but some are
not. There are fabulous Malbecs for which Argentina is well known, velvety reds
that go great with a good steak, and plenty of full-bodied Syrahs, luscious
Cabernets, and Merlots to please everyone. The whites are dominated by
Chardonnays, Torrontes, Sauvignon Blancs, and Viogniers. Several of the labels
also offer tempting blends.
 Mauricio
Lorca, a young but experienced winemaker, went out on his own three years ago
and began producing three distinct types of wines. The Ópalo line, including a
Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah, reflects the “true fruit and terroir” of
the Uco Valle Region, and these wines are not oak-aged. Poetico sees some oak,
and Fantasia is aged in oak. The number of cases produced of each label is
small, in some cases as low as 800, and there are no plans to increase volume,
so if you find these on a wine list, give them a try. Retail prices are low,
with the Fantasias available at probably around $12 a bottle or the others
closer to $20, still a deal compared to wines from other regions.
Another young winery yet with many years of tradition in
the Barrancas area near Mendoza is Bodegas y Viñedos Huarpe. Jose Hernandez
Toso was named 2005 Winemaker of the Year by a group of his peers, and three
labels are produced: popular priced Lancatay, Taymente, and Huarpe. The
full-bodied Taymente Malbec 2004 was one of my favorites. Aged for 6-8 months in
new American/French oak, 4,200 cases have been produced and it is a great
pairing for meat and cheeses. The slightly more expensive Huarpe labels are
blends of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2003 with 80% cab, and the 2004 the
reverse.
This year Bottled Poetry will introduce a new line, Bodega
Sur, produced by Guillermo Banfi in a modernized winery that was built in 1920.
Eight wines are produced at four different levels, but only four will be
imported: a Malbec Reserva, a Malbec Gran Reserva, a Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon
blend, and another type of wine starting to grace menus, Bonarda, “Argentina’s
second wine.” Only 3,000 cases of the unfiltered, fruity Bonarda have been
produced. Again, prices range from less than $12 a bottle retail for the Malbec
and Bonarda to about $18 for the Gran Reserva.
The most expensive wine imported by the firm is Enrique
Foster Firmado 2004, in a beautiful “signed” bottle, and it will be extremely
hard to find as only 300 cases were produced. Retail is about $70. Foster has a
state-of-the-art gravity flow winery with 80 year old Malbec vines. At an ideal
elevation of 3,000 feet with hot days and cold nights, the goal of this winery
is to produce the best Malbec in the Argentina if not the world. The wine is not
pumped, but is transported by a multi-level freight elevator.
There are a number of other labels that you should look out
for: Cavas de Santos, the blends of Calvulcura, the family-owned Marguery and
Las Perdices wineries, and several more. The Bottled Poetry website,
www.bottledpoetrybrands.com features more specific information about the
imports.
Which restaurants in Dallas feature many of these wines?
Try Bob’s Steak & Chop House, Elliott’s first and still loyal customer, as well
as Nick & Sam’s, the Capital Grill, Steel, the Village Burger Bar, Patrizio’s,
and several dozen more. Because of their attractive price points, some are
offered by the glass. For retail buyers, Pogo’s, Far Point, and Mr. G’s have
selections, but they can order other labels or case lots for customers upon
request. While Bottled Poetry focuses on the Dallas, Texas area, some of the
wines are imported to other cities, but on a very limited scale. Should you run
upon one of these wines in a store or on a wine list, take the opportunity to
try it since finding it again may not be so easy.
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