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"Viva, Argentina!"

One of the most vibrant guests at the very bustling Modern restaurant on a recent Tuesday night was Jimena Turner, director of education for Wines of Catena in Mendoza, Argentina.  Enthusiastic and passionate about Argentine wines, she is in New York to promote the new book Vino Argentino: An Insider's Guide to the Wines and Wine Country of Argentina written by Laura Catena, Jimena's employer, one of the most influential women on the Argentine wine scene.

Called the "definitive guide to Argentina's wine country," this is an information-packed book that is also remarkably easy and entertaining reading, and is studded with very dynamic pictures of the country and its people.

Jimena is also in New York to tell top sommeliers about the Catena wines, and has the envious job of flying to many other exotic places in the world to spread the good word. She is also incredibly charming, worked in some of the world's most fabulous five-star hotels, and you can sees some very adorable pictures of her children in the pages of Laura's book.

Now back to the Catena family history. If you are new to wine from Chile, Laura's father, Nicholas Catena, is credited with putting Argentinean wines on the world map by focusing entirely on quality. In the early eighties Nicolas, an economist by training, was convinced that only by exporting world-class quality bottlings would Argentine wines have a chance at becoming an important player on the international wine scene. Seeing Robert Mondavi's success in California, he tried the same in Mendoz and hired top consultants from around the world. 

Laura joins the Team

Laura, a Harvard-trained, practicing physician, left her practice to join her father and the consultants as research director. The team found the San Carlos area in the southern Uco Valley as the new promised land for Malbec, as the dry, cool, sunny high altitude climate, the well-drained, not too fertile soils made would prove ideal conditions for the grapes. The rest is history, with the family now owning quality territories all across the country.

2008 Alamos Seleccion Malbec

Over dinner we enjoyed this just released wine,100% Malbec from growers in the same San Carlos area described above. Selected yeast was used in fermentation, with a masceration of 25 days followed by aging in french and American oak.

The color would be familar to most Malbec drinkers -- in France, it is often called the "black wine" and this wine shows an opaque, dark violet color. The nose is full with ripe black cherry and cassis fruit, spicy black pepper, and anise. It is curious how such care can go into a wine, with workers hand picking the grapes for a careful selection, and have the price be only $13 dollars -- but there you go.

The book has some great information on the family's work and research with clonal selection, as well as the history of Argentine wine in general. It is coming out in a few weeks and a very lively and educational read.

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