| Buenos Aires is also interested in wine |
|
|
| mircoles, 20 agosto 2008 | ||||||||
AlEste bodega y Viñedos, located in the area of Los Médanos, near Bahía Blanca, launched its first wines, 2006 and 2007 harvests. With a current capacity of 100 thousand bottles and an estimated investment of 5 million dollars from its opening to 2015, the winery seeks to open up to foreign trade. Argentina has always set itself apart from other countries for its multiplicity of varieties, climares, and regions. AlEste Bodegas y Viñedos is an example of the diversity of the country. This winery, located in the area of Los Médanos, near the city of Bahía Blanca, has been functioning since 1998 and this year it is launching its first wines. It is estimated that from its beginnings to 2015, the winery will have invested 5 million dollars. Agronomist Daniel Di Nucci is one of the owners of this company, and he decided to open the winery in Buenos Aires with a group of partners. The owner of AlEste commented on how they started this undertaking in such an uncommon area for grape-growing and winemaking. “This undertaking had been in my head for a long time, for around 10 years I had been thinking about it. Los Médanos is an area that, a priori, gathers the conditions for producing wines, including soil, environment, water; and there were previous experiences dating back to the first half of the 20th century,” Di Nucci affirmed. In addition, the agronomist gave further details of the first steps they took. “In 2000 we started the experimental stage, advised by Alberto Antonini, the Italian winemaker who is also our winery’s winemaker. In this first stage, we planted a hectare and a half of nine varieties (Malbec, Tannat, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, among others). There, we wanted to know what were the ones showing the best development. In a second stage, after sending our samples to INTA, we decided that the varieties we were going to plant in 2003, in our 25 hectares, were Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec, Tannat, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.” With regard to winemaking, besides having Alberto Antonini, the winery has hired Mendoza winemaker Ricardo Dolcemáscolo, who has been living in Buenos Aires for three years, and it also has the advice of Matura, Antonini’s winemaking consulting company. Looking into the near future, one of the owners of AlEste mentioned the goals that have been set. “Within the next three years, we are going to increase the planted surface with 25 additional hectares and we want to reach an annual production of 500 thousand bottles by 2015.” Currently, AlEste has two wine brands: TerraSabia and AlEste, with a production of 100 thousand bottles. Moreover, it expects to bottle around 70 thousand bottles of both brands. The labels of the winery are: Terrasabia Reserva Malbec 2006, sold at $44 suggested price); the same brand has a Chardonnay - Sauvignon blend of the 2006 harvest (35$); AlEste bi-variety wines -Cabernet-Malbec (34$) and Chardonnay-Sauvignon (35$)- and AlEste Reserva, a Tannat-Malbec blend ($ 60). These wines have been sold for a month, and they were first launched at the regional level, in the winery and Bahía Blanca restaurants and wine stores. Now they are coming to the Greater Buenos Aires region and La Plata, but the idea is to go beyond the domestic market and focus on export markets, particularly the US, Brazil and Mexico.
 Add as favourites (60) |  Quote this article on your site | Views: 814
|
||||||||
Be first to comment this article
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
