We started the day packing and getting ready to spend the night in Mendoza. There, we would take our test and have our last meal with the fantastic folks from the Catena Winery and Vineyards. We also had to say goodbye to the wonderful staff at the family home that took such great care of us over the past three and a half days. They cooked all of our meals kept the house clean and were always there if we needed something.
We loaded into the van and were off to the Tupungato valley and the high altitude vineyards. The trip was about 2 and half hours long but the sights were unreal as you see from the pictures.
Once we arrived at the vineyard we were met by Belen Iacono, the Vineyard Manager. She explained the history of the High Altitude vineyards that were developed by Nicolas in the 1980s. The first planting was in 1989 and the first Malbec from this vineyard was in 1994, a five year period before Nicolas was satisfied with the quality.
Our first lesson was on pruning the vines and staking them out for the next year’s growth. Our task was to select a cane to act as the Loader Cane for next year. The diameter should not exceed that of a pencil. It should also have good spacing between the buds to avoid congestion. The vineyard manager will determine how many buds will be left on the cane based on the previous year’s yield. The selected cane should be as close to the trunk as possible to avoid interfering with the growth of the other vines. Once this selection process is done all of the unwanted canes are pruned away and the selected cane is laid flat against the first wire and tied down. We each did about 4 vines, and in the same amount of time it took us to do these four vines, a worker about twenty feet from us did and entire row. His job was very secure.
Soil composition is one of the most important elements of a successful vineyard. The structure of the soil must stress the vine. The staff dug a large hole in one of the rows in the vineyard to show us the soil. As you can see from the picture, it starts with rather soft sandy soil and then turns to clay and then very rocky soil. This makes the vine really fight for every drop of moisture and causes the fruit to become very hearty. This along with proper trimming makes for a yield of very healthy and juicy fruit.
We went over to another section of the Vineyard and there was a pavillion there with the two flagship single vineyard Catena Zapata wines, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. We tasted the wines and they were fantastic, rich dark fruits with well structured tannins with a finish that went on for minutes.
Of course next was lunch and boy what a lunch. We had about 9 different appetizers and then the main course. Along with the meal there were several different wines from the Catena Winery. I learned how to use a knife (didn’t have a saber around) to stroke the neck of the champagne bottle and slice the neck open.
We arrived at the hotel with enough time to shower and change then off to Francis Mallmann 1884 Restaurant in Mendoza for testing, graduation and of course dinner. The test was about 50 challenging questions ranging from dates to names to terms, but if you read the study guide and listened you would be able to pass. We all did and we received our Certificate of High Altitude Malbec Ambassadors. We then had dinner with a couple of folks from the vineyard and then back to the hotel to get ready for our flight to Buenos Aires.
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