Further Accolades for Our Head Wine Maker

Wine & Spirits has chosen Achaval Ferrer Winery of the Year!!!

Each year, Wine & Spirits magazine’s blind tasting panels review more than 9,000 wines and pass the best along to their critics. The annual Wineries of the Year list is made up of brands who produce a range of wines that score at the top of their categories. Achaval Ferrer performed in the top echelon–a great ambassador for the wines of Argentina.

Our lead winemaker, Santiago Achaval is widely recognized as one of Argentina’s premier vintners under his Achaval-Ferrer label.  Achaval-Ferrer boasts four of the five highest rated wines in Argentine history, as judged by Wine Spectator, and the highest rated Argentine wine to date according to Robert Parker. As head wine maker for Hand of God, he will continue to bring out fantastic wines of Argentina.

Harvest at Achaval-Ferrer, 2009

Our young vines produced very promising but not yet fully mature fruit this year at Hand of God Vineyards. We expect mature, full bodied grapes in the next harvest.  check out the 2009 harvest at Achaval Ferrer to see what we’re aiming for and what expectations we have for our next harvest.

Viognier Blends in the Works

If you’ve read any of our posts, you’ll have picked up on the fact that we love Malbecs and Malbec blends. It’s our passion, our primary planting on the estate, and the star red of Argentina with a secure foothold in the US market and beyond. For that reason, we feel we can be a little more experimental with our white varietal. Hand of God will release a blended Viognier. We’re excited by the quality of the Viognier grapes produced this year and look forward to their continued maturation. We’ve also planted small parcels Roussanne, Marsanne, and Sauvignon Blanc grapes that will be blended with Viognier to produce top notch, complex, and balanced whites. The distinctive Viognier perfume holds up even when blended with a large portion of other grapes.

Viognier is classic varietal from the northern areas of the Rhône valley of southwestern France. It has never been found in large amounts, but in the 1960s it became almost extinct. The grape is enjoying resurgence today, both in the Rhône and also areas of Australia and California. In Australia, the wines can range from firm and floral to rich and oily. In California Viognier has become somewhat synonymous with rich, easy-drinking wine with a touch of sweetness. It has been termed a cult wine in the US and accordingly has attracted relatively high prices. Argentina is beginning to have significant plantings of Viognier and has huge potential as a fine wine with the high and cool vineyards situated on the slopes of the Andes.

Viognier has a reputation for being remarkably difficult grape to grow. Though drought tolerant, Viognier is prone to mildew, produces notoriously low and unpredictable yields, and needs to be picked when fully ripe. If it is picked too early it fails to develop its classic aromas and rich tastes. When picked too late, the grape produces wine that is oily and lacks perfume. The Mendoza region is noted as one of the best areas for grapes in Argentina and uniquely suited to the growing such a delicate grape due to the high altitude and low humidity Argentine vineyards are rarely plagued by mildew or many other diseases. We keep our yields intentionally low to improve the character, complexity and power of the wines.

The wine is noted for its rich golden color, remarkable clarity, and a highly perfumed aroma that can be compared to roasted pineapple, peach, apricot or even fennel. Many talk of being surprised by the taste; the color and nose hinting at something sweeter but the actually taste being dry with a variety of nuances both on the tongue and afterwards. The wines tend to be viscous and rich, with low levels of acidity. Viognier is almost always at its best when young. We like matching it with spicy cuisine, Mexican dishes, mild to medium and salty cheeses, strong flavored fish dishes, pork and chicken and fresh fruit salsas.

To Age or Not to Age?

It is a widely held belief that the longer you keep a bottle of wine the better it will taste.  The first known wine review was of a 200 year old bottle and written by Roman Historian Pliny the Elder in 70 A.D.  He rated 121 B.C. as a vintage “of the highest excellence.”  Does that mean you should cellar your 2009 vintage until 2209?  Should you bequeath those special bottles to your grandchildren?

Nope.  Modern wines are different. Hooray! Of all the wines produced today, more than 90% are designed to be consumed within a couple of years after they are produced.

So what’s changed? Applying today’s modern technology to wine production and grapes cultivation produces wines that do not need decades of aging before maturation. Modern wines are aged in barrel to create an enjoyable tannin, fruit, acid balance prior to bottling and won’t necessarily improve with additional aging in bottle.  In the past, there was less control over wine production and often the seeds, stems, and skins of the grapes, as well as the flavor of the barrel, created a bitterly tannic product.  Aging was necessary because it took years for the tannins to precipitate, as sediment, and the complexity of the wine’s flavor from fruit, acid, and all the other elements that make a beautiful wine to come into greater balance.  Take as proof the many old wines sold today (above 50 years or so) which are completely drinkable. That wine likely started off too harsh for consumption, so harsh that it took some 20-50 years to become palatable. Some need 100 years to become good wines and you can imagine how much money you will need to keep wine for so long in storage.

While most modern wines can be drunk almost as soon as they are bottled, some of the wines do benefit from aging a few years There are some wines which will need some 2-3 years to reach their peak potential while some take about 5-7 years to reach that level but understand that it is just as possible to age a wine for too long a time as it is to age it for too little a time.  In general, more expensive red wines are usually designed to become better with age. Most inexpensive wines do not benefit from aging.  It’s also good to note, that whites have less tannin so are less apt to age well.  Getting more specific about some red grapes, rules of thumb might be for the very best wines: Cabernet, 10 to 15 years; Merlot, 4 to 7 years for many; Nebbiolo, 10 years or more; Pinot Noir, about 5 years to start.

If you are interested in aging some of your bottles take a look at this guide on cellarnotes.net. But in more cases than not, enjoy your wine as soon as you can!!

Happy 4th of July

and cheers!  Drink safe and be careful with fireworks around the BBQ.