Catena Zapata began in 1898 when Nicola Catena, recently having arrived from Italy, planted his first Malbec vines in 1902. His grandson, Nicolas Catena, took the regions from his father Domingo in the 60s. After a traveling California, he became one of the first makers of fine wine in Argentine, not just within Mendoza but in all of Argentina, in the 80s and 90s. Dedication and research are the reasons his wines obtain such high scores internationally. This visit is ideal to understand and discover the quality and finesse of these wines, tasting a Chardonnay, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as in order to understand the modernization of the wine industry in Argentina since the 90s. Catena Zapata is one of the most well-known Argentine wineries in the whole world. Named “Man of the Year” by Decanter magazine, Nicolas Catena has greatly influenced the wine scene in Argentina. More than anything, it’s a pleasure to taste his wonderful wines!
Ruca Malen began in 1998 as the result of two friends’ dream, Jacques Louis de Montalembert and Jean Pierre Thibaud, united by the same passion: to make high-quality wines. The search for quality has been present in every aspect of this winery: in relation to the location, the technology, but fundamentally in the management, treatment, and care of the vines, where the great wines of this winery are born, by the hand of Pablo Cúneo. The style of Ruca Malen translates into elegant, complex, and balanced wines, that accompany foods by enhancing them, without overshadowing them. During the visit, you will taste a wine from each line: Yauquén, Ruca Malen, and Kinién.
This winery represents both sides of wine in Argentina: the tradition of immigrants with French founders, and the respect for the local culture and land, with the representation of Mapuche legend. Most importantly, they carefully make high-quality wines.
In 1895, Edmund James Palmer Norton got to know Mendoza during the construction of a train that united Mendoza with Chile. Amazed by the land, he founded Bodega Norton, south of the Mendoza River, planting vines imported from France. His mission: to be the best winery in Argentina, recognized for quality wines, professionalism, honesty of his team, maintaining the passion that characterizes this winery and the excellence of winemaking. Norton opens its doors to visitors to show them the world of vitiviniculture starting from the vines to the winemaking with a tasting and cheers in the wine shop bar at the end.
Norton has been one of the biggest names since the beginning of winemaking in Argentina. They produce wines focusing on e philosophy of pleasing those who drink their wine. In the visit at Norton, you will have the opportunity to taste wine in each of its stages of production, and at the end, finishing with a blend-your-own-wine activity and at lunch, you can taste everyone’s blends and choose a winner.
This winery was constructed in 2002 at a family farm in the middle of the district of Vistalba (in Luján de Cuyo) where Carlos Pulenta develops his personal project of blending wines, including other family members, colleagues, enologists, and a valiant group of people who know this land well. In this visit, we will learn the art of blending wine and how to achieve incredible wine blends in order to obtain the best qualities of each varietal, with the opportunity to taste two Tomero Clásicos, one Vistalba Corte C, and one Progenie II.
From the long family tradition of Vistalba, we will lear the art of combining different grape varietals to give unique and complex aromas and flavors to their outstanding wines.
Founded in 1998 by a group of 6 friends, both Argentine and Italian, Achával-Ferrer has the passion for great wines, faithful exponents of the land they come from. They work to make red wines of excellent quality, personality, and superior style, that form part of a group of great wines of the world. They do so under two solid principles: the search for quality in all their wines and a respect for the terroir. With the know-how of an expert winemaker, Robert Cipasso, Achával-Ferrer manages to elevate the quality of their wine to the most lofty. And of course, you get to taste their delicious red wines!
This winery is world renowned, even making it onto the cover of Decanter and Wine Enthusiast. Also, this group of friends make their wines with a deep respect for the expression of the varietal and terroir.
The history of Nieto Senetiner began around 1888 when Italian immigrants founded and planted the first vines in Vistalba, Luján de Cuyo, province of Mendoza. The winery developed in the hands of different families over the first few decades, who gave the winery the architectural form it maintains today. In 1969 it was acquired by the Nieto Senetiner family who extended the facilities, beginning a new period of growth, and in 1998 became part of Molinos Río de la Plata Business Group. The winery has an established leadership position in all segments of still and sparkling wines, in medium and high ranges, where it participates. The winery is currently committed to the highest standards quality manufacturing, supported by continuous investment plans in new vineyards and processes.
In Nieto Senetiner, you can discover a large part of the history of winemaking in Luján de Cuyo, as well as learn about different winemaking methods, both still and sparkling wines.
Rockstar Napa Valley Winemaker, Paul Hobbs, first visited Argentina in 1989 and immediately fell in love with the land and culture, detecting the potential for Malbec and other varietals in the region. In 1997 Andrea Machiori and Luis Barraud met Paul in California, and decided to embark on the project to create Viña Cobos. Since then, the three partners have continued to increase the portfolio of premium wines, which have received much recognition. Each and every one of their wines expresses the vines authentically, founded in the balance and harmony that they achieve in the vineyard and winery. They try (successfully) to express the typicity of each varietal and terroir year after year. You will get to taste two of the wines from the Felino label, and one of the Bramare Appellation line.
This winery deserves our time because it combines the innovation and experience of Paul Hobbs, with the knowledge of the land of his partners Andrea and Luis to créate complex wines with intense flavors of fruit and spice.
The D’Aulan family made wine of the most important viticultural regions in the world, from France (where they are originally from) to Hungary and Argentina, where they created Alta Vista in 1998 in search of excellence for the two emblematic grapes of Argentina: Malbec and Torrontés. The result was the perfect combination of French savior-faire and Argentine passion. The visit here begins with a the winemaking process, a walk around the production area and cave, and ending in their tasting room and boutique with a tasting of one white and two reds.
Alta Vista offers the unique opportunity to appreciate the French winemaking style in the emblematic varietals typical of the Argentine land.
Bautista Gerónimo Gargantini arrived in Argentina in 1883. Once he saved up some cash, he became associates with another member of the Swiss-Italian community, Juan Giol, who shared the secret of “how to make wine” and together they built a winery that rapidly became a legend in the history of winemaking in Mendoza, later known as Bodega Giol. In 1899, they produced their first wine under the brand Cabeza de Toro. In 1909, at the age of 50m Bautista Gerónimo decided to return to his homeland, sell his part to his associate, and buy property in Rivadavia (still within the Province of Mendoza), where his son founded Bodegas y Viñedos Gargantini.
Clos de Chacras represents a lot of the history and roots of winemaking here in Argentina. In addition, nowadays it is a cute boutique winery, with a focus on making wines of excellent quality.
The Aristi family has generations and generations of experience working the land in Argentina. In 2002, they established their winery, Melipal, with their first year of wine production in 2003. They decided to dedicate themselves to making super premium wines. With consistency, enthusiasm, and passion, they represent the land of Alto Agrelo 100%, with all of their grapes coming from their own vineyards within the region. The name Melipal comes from the indigenous Mapuche language, meaning the Southern Cross, a constellation used to navigate your way in the mountains.
In addition to being completely Argentine, Melipal produces wonderful wines. The winery itself is gorgeous with a beautiful garden and view of the Andes.
Lagarde is a traditional winery that preserves its original framework since 1987, the year of its foundation. As you go around the winery, its centenarian vineyards, patios, and the old house make you feel embraced by an ambience of ancient times. Besides preserving its identity and culture, Lagarde invests in the state-of-the-art technology in order to guarantee excellent quality wines. The winery’s total capacity is 1.600.000lts, of which 35% are stored in stainless- steel tanks and 65% in small and medium concrete pools coated with epoxy paint. The temperature in tanks and pools is controlled by a central system that allows a correct elaboration and conservation of the wines. Lagarde owns 800 oak casks (85% French oak, 15% American oak), which are renewed every 3 years. Long-in-mouth wines only use new French oak casks.
At the end of the 50s, The house of Moet & Chandon from Epernay, the most important zone of Champagne in France, decided to install, for the first time ever, wineries and vineyards outside of France. The place they chose was Argentina. Renaud Poirier, experienced enologist of the company, visited different zones of the country and determined that the placement more apt for this project was in Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo.
It was in 1959 when the project settled. From its inception, the company had advice from the technicians of Moet & Chandon in France. Motives for the expectations were plentiful: Moet & Chandonwas founded in 1743 and its products, including the legendary Don Perignon were already famous all over the world. The enological knowledge and wisdom of the company along with their enormous commercialization power, in addition to Chandon´s place at the top of sales, the company transformed and imposed on the traditional “Argentine taste,” provoking a strong change in the customs of the people.
This quick and bright success has caused many other wineries to try and compete, making their own sparkling wines. The market had already been growing rapidly, and since the appearance of Chandon – even more! In the last years, Chandon winery his made grand investments working toward an establishment to hold a capacity of approximately 1,700,000 liters. Chandon´s property stretches approximately 1,333 hectors, cultivating about 500 hectors which grow year after year.
Finca Decero was so named because it loads the family love with the wines to a land that was desolate and started "from scratch". In the 70s, Adda, Thomas Schmidheiny’s mother was inspired by the vineyards of Napa to found a small family winery. Twenty years after Mendoza won the heart and spirit of Thomas, who came from across the Andes from Chile.
Starting "from scratch" was exactly what Thomas Schmidheiny dreamed of doing. A winery of international quality, free of traditions and captive passion for making wine. It was in the valley of Agrelo, known for producing high-quality red wines, where Thomas instinctively knew he had found the place to continue his family legacy and create wines that truly express their origin.
Founded in 1901 by Don Leoncio Arizu, Luigi Bosca winery has played an extensive role in the Argentine winemaking industry. Luigi Bosca is equipped with seven vineyards in the province and more than 700 hectares dedicated to the cultivation, study and understanding of the vine.
Directed by the third and fourth generations of the original family, this constitutes one of the few wineries who, throughout the decades, has remained in the hands of the founding family and whose prestige has made themselves into a paradigm of Argentine wine. The Arizu family has always worked to find the best expression of Argentine wine and they have been protagonists of the greatest changes to the national winemaking industry. For example, in 1989, the family actively worked for the foundation of the first DOC in Argentina (Denomination of Origin) in Luján de Cuyo.
This winery has achieved expansion at the international level and their prestige is based on their years of experience, their constant and reliable quality wines, and their everlasting search for innovative excellence, dynamism, and advanced technology.
Séptima Winery, located in the beautiful province of Mendoza, Argentina, with their estates in Agrelo, at the foot of the Andes Mountains. It offers a wide variety of Argentine wines and sparkling wines. The winery is inspired by in “pirca” technique widely used by Huarpes (native peoples of this area) to build walls. This ancestral construction system consisted on stacking natural stones. Its architecture, construction style, materials, and arrangement of spaces, make this place an undisputed leader among the Mendoza wineries of Argentina’s last winemaking stage. With 150 hectares planted and balanced production levels they offer a wide range of fine still wines and exquisite sparkling wines.
Located in a completely restored centenary building, Casarena winery opened its doors to teach about their wines and vineyards. During the visit to this winery, guests taste wines from all of the different stages of winemaking – from fermentation, oak barrels, and finally the wines from the labeled bottles.
Casarena invites their guests to experience these differences in aromas and flavours of wine during its production, showing the wines’ evolution during the winemaking process.
Kaiken winery is the last bet for prestigious Chilean enologist Aurelio Montes, who is founder of Viña Montes (1986) located in Colchagua Valley, Chile, and Montes USA (2006) in Napa Valley, USA. It is located in Vistalba, the heart of wine country in Luján de Cuyo, in an older winery from 1930 founded by an Italian family, Calise. The total capacity of the winery is 6,000,000 liters. However, the total production of Kaiken winery is around 1,800,000 liters.
They use concrete tanks for the fermentation and aging of the wine. The 1,500 french oak barrels are saved in four different cellars. The grapes are distributed in vineyards throughout 70 hectors of land in Agrelo and 150 hectares in Uco Valley. The winery gets its name from the Kaikens (wild geese) that fly over Patagonia between Chile and Argentina.
The winery was founded in 2004 by a group of Chilean businessmen and an Argentine, Pedro Federico Rossel. From the beginning, the objective has been to develop high-quality sparkling wines. For this reason, they selected land in Luján de Cuyo which has zones with good altitude, ground with good drainage, and good temperatures for the growing of the vine.
The sparkling wines of Cruzat, made under the traditional method Champenoise, of a second fermentation in the bottle, reflect the eternal search for excellence and the constant attention to small detail during the winemaking process. This is a product that combines tradition, knowledge and technology in the hands of experts day after day who give themselves completely to the production of their wines and who create what Cruzat represents as “excellence in quality”.
For over three generations, the Pulenta family has been linked to Argentina's viticulture. In 1997, Antonio Pulenta sold a majority stake in Trapiche and it was at that moment that his sons Eduardo, only the third generation winemaker, alongside Hugo, decided to continue the family tradition and build their own winery: Pulenta Estate. The winery is located in Agrelo, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, and has 135 hectares of fine vineyards aged 16 years, where the grapes enjoy an extraordinary climate with wide temperature range. The snowmelt from the Andes promotes irrigation of this privileged area. Each varietal is achieved by combining manual labor and high technology, enabling a delicate balance in the final product.
Dominio del Plata is a medium sized winery located in the Lujan de Cuyo region of Mendoza Argentina. It was founded in 1999 by enologist and entrepreneur Susana Balbo. After twenty years of working as a consultant winemaker both in Argentina and around the world, Susana Balbo decided to open her own winery. After 10 years both of Susana’s children decided to join the family business. Her son Jose, enologist, and Ana, Business Administrator.
Equipped with modern technology, Dominio del Plata is characterized by a unique and simple design, intended for producing premium wines. Each variety is harvested manually and treated in a special way for maintaining the whole fruit expressions and achieve unique individual styles. Susana and her team work hard to meet the highest international quality standards, demonstrating its commitment to the most important problems of the XXI century: food safety, sustainability and social corporate responsibility.
Bodega Tapiz is one of the most technologically advanced wineries in Argentina, combining the best vineyards in the country with a vast experience in winemaking. The vineyards of the winery are located in the region of Valle Uco and Agrelo in the province of Mendoza and Yacochuya, Cafayate in Salta province. The combination of the soil at the foot of the Andes and craftsmanship of excellence ensure the development of a wine that captures the full potential of a truly majestic winegrowing region.
The first commercial harvest of Viña Doña Paula (belongs to the same Chilean group of Viña Carmen) was in 1999. When the wine reached Peru for the first time, the success was immediate.
Their offer is very consistent, starting line Los Cardos which surprised by its superlative quality for its price. The Doña Paula Estate are monovarietals or bivarietals with passage through American and French oak barrels.
Located in Ugarteche, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, Doña Paula is considered an estate winery since the grapes used to produce their wines are produced from vineyards that are located in Premium wine regions of the province.
Their leitmotiv is based on the corporate principle of "delivering the best the Argentine terroir can offer." Thereby, it aspires to be a benchmark of quality and become a recognized player in Argentina by providing super premium wines.
A modern, innovative and eco-friendly winery that produces premium wines out of Malbec. Renacer is a winery located in Perdriel, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, in a privileged area for Malbec vines. The winery began its construction in 2001, year in which a vineyard of 20 hectares was purchased. Renacer currently owns 30 hectares and works along with local producers, purchasing the best grapes from the best terroirs of Mendoza. The winery is a pioneer in developing precision viticulture, plants high density and low yield per plant, producing exceptional grapes which will become unique, magnificent wines.
The winery, designed to produce high-quality wines, is a fusion of modernity and classicism: well defined straight lines with Tuscan-inspired walls and deliver a highly attractive aesthetics. Renacer is committed to the care of the environment. It was the first winery in Argentina certifying carbon footprint, Solar Energy, and Environmental Commitment.
Although the style of the winery reflects the past, production is handled with by the most modern methods. The combination of traditional methods with the latest technology aimed at making high-quality wines. The process of winemaking is based on the maximum care of the grapes and a complete and exhaustive control of all stages. Until they reach maturity, the wines rest in the underground cellar aged in French and American oak. The concept that guides Piattelli wines is "organic farming", conceived through a well-nourished land by natural fertilizers and severe pruning in winter that limits each year’s production. Through this process, a strong concentration of flavors is achieved.
In Piattelli Vineyards, their motivation flows from love for family, country, nature and viticulture. For them, wine is more than a beverage . It is a gift they offer from their heart and symbolizes their connection with people and land.
