2003 Alta vista, Chacras de Coria

Mendoza, Argentina

Color: Red
Name: Alta vista
Vineyard: Chacras de Coria
Type: Malbec
Origin: Mendoza, Argentina
Year: 2003
Price: $53.00
Rating: 5.3
Pocho's Pick
Review: I'm frustrated by the lack of a good wine map for Mendoza. But I guess that's testimony to the "undiscovered" nature of the destination.

The one above shows the general lay of the land with the main growing areas of Maipu and Lujan de Cuyo moving out from the city of Mendoza (see this topo/satellite/weather map. Further south is the Uco Valley with many wonderful wineries and 200km south of the city lies San Rafael, home to Famiglia Bianchi among others. I didn't visit San Rafael on my trip but I did visit the other regions.

There's an incredible vitality to Mendoza. The region is experiencing a boom. Foreign direct investment, particularly from France and Chile, is pouring in to vineyards and fancy new wineries are going up everywhere. Several locals told me that unemployment is at 6 percent, well below the national average of 20 percent. Demand for luxury hotels is such that the Park Hyatt is often full and two other five-star hotels are being built. And there are luxury boutique hotels such as the 14-room Cavas Wine Lodge sprouting in the vineyards themselves.

The Andes provide a dramatic backdrop for the city as well as plenty of activities for tourists, from hiking to rafting. But it's the wineries that I went for and I wondered, does terroir matter? Or put more simply, are there different microclimates in Mendoza?

It is always hard to decipher the influence of the vineyard as opposed to the influence of the winemaker. So I had an excellent chance to taste the terroir in the very cool tasting room at Alta Vista with three Malbecs from different vineyards made by the same winemaker. Patrick d'Aulan and family sold the Champagne house Piper-Heidsieck in 1999 and still owns Chateau Sansonnet in Bordeaux, purchased this winery in 1998 and started restoring it and acquiring properties. They now have four vineyard sites including 540 acres in the Clos de los Siete project in the Uco Valley area of Vista Flores (planted in 2002; the d'Aulans have since left the venture).
Comments:

The Nillni's Great Wine Tasting Adventure

2003 Alta vista, Chacras de Coria