Argentina Wine Archives - Dr. Liz Thach, MW

Visiting the Museo de la Vid y Vino and Domingo Molina Winery

Museo de la Vid y el Vino in Cafayate, Salta (March 18, 2014) – We started the day with a tour of the Museo de la Vid y el Vino located 2 blocks off the Cafayate Plaza. It was a delightful experience with walls filled with poetry about wine, as well as the history of wine in the region, and exhibits of winemaking equipment. Two highlights for me were seeing the old cement wine vats with a space underneath to light fires to insure the fermentation continued. I had never seen this before, and I thought it was a great [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:22:13-08:00June 27, 2014|

Checking into Patios de Cafayate Wine Resort & Dinner at Vinas de Cafayate, Argentina

Entrance to Patios de Cafayate Wine Hotel After the splendid tours and tasting of Bodegas Piattelli and San Pedro, I checked in the luxurious Patios de Cafayate Wine Hotel. This is a spacious old hacienda built of white stucco with a bell tower. The approach is magnificent as you enter a gated vineyard and traverse a long driveway to see the long white resort glowing in the sun and backlit by the red mountains rising behind. The resort is also part of a working winery, Bodega El Esteco. I spent 3 delightful nights here and enjoyed waking up every morning [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:22:31-08:00June 14, 2014|

Visiting the Famous San Pedro Yacochuya Winery – Four-wheel Driving & Cactus

View of Valley from San Pedro Winery That afternoon we visited the famous Argentine winery called San Pedro Yacochuya where we met the Etchart brothers, Marcos the winemaker and Pablo the marketing expert. The winery achieved its fame partially because they hired Michel Rolland as their consulting winemaker, and became highlighted in the movie Mondevino. In actuality they hired Michel in 1988 before he became famous, and he worked his magic on the San Pedro Yacochuya Malbec. Now Marcos continues the tradition, and the wine truly deserves its great reputation. It is huge, complex, and brimming with concentrated dark berry [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:22:50-08:00June 11, 2014|

Delightful Day Long Visit to Zuccardi Family Winery – Mendoza, Argentina

Hours of Operation at Zuccardi Winery After more workshops and lectures the previous day, I was treated to a full day visiting the very hospitable Zuccardi Family Winery. It is located in the Maipu appellation about 20 minutes from the city of Mendoza in the Santa Rosa area. We were greeted by Julia Zuccardi, Director of Hospitality, who gave us an excellent tour beginning with the history of the estate. She said her grandfather had started a business in 1963 selling irrigation pipe to vineyards. To assist with sales, he planted a vineyard to demonstrate how it the equipment worked. [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:23:52-08:00June 2, 2014|

Trapiche Winery – Amazing History & Focus on Sustainability in Mendoza, Argentina

Entrance to Trapiche Winery We received an unexpected invitation to visit Trapiche Winery in the morning before my first seminar, so we were delighted to accept because Trapiche is one of the largest and most famous brands in Argentina. The winery is located on the outskirts of Mendoza in an industrial area near the old railroad. Established in 1883, Trapiche was the first winery to ship their wine to Buenas Aires. The original brick winery buildings have been lovingly renovated, and now include a wine museum, the original concrete tanks in the cellar, and a beautiful tasting room on the [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:24:28-08:00May 29, 2014|

Visit to the Spectacular Salentein Winery in Uco Valley, Argentina

Horse Drawn Wagon in Uco Valley After breakfast at our hotel, we left the city of Mendoza around 10am in order to make our 11am appointment at Saletein Winery in the Uco Valley. It was a sunny warm day and we could see the snowcapped Andes mountains in the distance. As we drove through the hills and vineyards, we passed small villages, and at one point, saw man driving a horse-drawn wagon filled with branches. As we crested the hill and saw our first view of the Uco Valley everyone caught their breath in awe. So we stopped the car [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:25:06-08:00May 28, 2014|

Visiting the Town of Chakras and Carinae Winery in Mendoza, Argentina

Malbec Vine in Mendoza Vineyard On Monday after a visit to the University of Cuyo in Lujan and a meeting with the Dean and other wine economics professors, we visited the charming “wine village” of Chakras. It is situated in the middle of the vineyards and wineries, and just a short 20-minute drive from downtown Mendoza. Filled with shops and restaurants, I thought this would be an ideal place in the future for wineries to establish mini-tasting rooms, similar to the town of Healdsburg in Sonoma County. We had an excellent lunch at the Chakras at Tea & Company where [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:25:29-08:00May 23, 2014|

Wine Tourism Advantages & Challenges in the Mendoza Area

Dancing at Vendemia Wine Festival in Mendoza As home to more than 400 bodegas (wineries) and with an international airport, Mendoza is a logical place for wine tourists to start. It has the advantages of large well-known wineries such as Catena Zapata, Achaval-Ferrer, Norton, Trapiche and many others. It also has a large number of wine tour companies that can schedule and transport tourists to wineries in the Maipu and Lujan de Cuyo areas near Mendoza, and an hour south to the famous Uco Valley. Plentiful restaurants with excellent food at bargain prices and upscale hotels make Mendoza and the [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:36:21-08:00May 23, 2014|

Snapshot of the Argentina Wine Industry

Wines Regions of Argentina According to the National Institute of Viticulture in Argentina, the country now boasts 894 wineries, with more than 300 exporting wine to the US. The signature red grape is Malbec, which has become a favorite in the States because of its velvety texture and blueberry notes. Torrontes, which produces perfumed and spicy wines, is the signature white grape. Argentina also produces large quantities of excellent cabernet sauvignon, Syrah, tannat, merlot, and chardonnay. Its sparkling wines, which are rarely exported, are refreshing, well priced, and similar in style to Prosecco. There are 8 major wine regions, with [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:36:53-08:00May 18, 2014|

Wine Tourism Healthy in Mendoza, Argentina

Vineyards of Mendoza with Andes Mountains Ironically Malbec is not the best pairing with empanadas – the small meat and cheese filled turnovers of Argentina. Instead most locals recommend Torrontes wine as a better match. This is just one of the tips wine tourists learn when they visit the fifth largest wine producing country in the world. Wine tourism in Argentina is on the rise, spurred on by the devalued peso that has recently dropped 30% against the US dollar. This makes visiting Argentina attractive not only to Americans, but to many Brazilians as well who find excellent deals on [...]

By Dr. Liz Thach, MW|2021-01-23T15:37:26-08:00May 18, 2014|