Author: Dirk Chan
Situated 700 to 1100 meters above sea level in Mendoza, Argentina, Achaval Ferrer was formed in 1998 and is famous for their old-vine Malbec. Today, winemaker and partner Roberto Cipresso is in charge.
The winery’s passion is to make great wines which are faithful gifts of the soil from where they begin. Under Italian and Argentinean ownership, their philosophy engulfs green harvesting, leaf thinning and minimalist interference, reduced yields all to produce a better end-product. Wide temperature changes (warm days and cool nights), desert-like climate, poor soil composition and irrigation waters from the pristine snowmelt off the Andes encourage the maturation process of grapes which converts into wines with character, profound structure and complexity. All of the Achaval wines are bottled unfiltered, and decanting is recommended.
There several single vineyard Malbecs that Achaval is famous for:
Finca Altamira is located La Consulta, Uco Valley and has existed since 1925, is 5.2 hectares on native rootstocks grown at 3400 feet above sea level. Only 825 cases made of this terroir driven Malbec.
Finca Bella Vista is 105 years old, with alluvial soil, rolling stones and layers of silt, 13 hectares that co-exists with olive trees at an altitude of 3100 feet. The yield is a measely .75 tons per acre (that is 1/3 of a bottle of wine per plant)resulting in great black fruit, the greatest depth and opulence and an endless finish. Under 1000 cases made.
Finca Mirador is 13 acres in the village of Medrano on alluvial and clay soil grown at 2400 feet above sea level on the west bank of the Tunuyan River. Half the vines were planted in 1928 and the other half in 1942, the latter pruned double-Guyot rootstocks. Very expressive nose, aged in new French barrels for 16 months. Only 843 cases made.
The Quimera blend of Malbec, Merlot, CabSau, CabFranc and Pett Verdot pays hommage to the Bordeaux style blend. Both their large production Cabernet Sauvignon and Mendoza Malbec have been bestsellers at deVines and represent excellent value.
deVine and Brett Norrie of Empson Wines will be hosting a special sit-down tasting of the Achaval Ferrer wines on Saturday, January 31st at 7pm where we’ll taste six wines including all of the aforementioned single vineyard Malbecs from the great 2009 vintage, all of which scored between 96 and 99 points from The Wine Advocate magazine.
Advanced registration is required, and can be done online
here..