Oh Susana!

Sorry, the ancient Stephen Foster hit offers nothing more than the name of our heroine of this tale of humility and redemption, (mine). We’re not comin’ from Alabama nor is there a banjo anywhere near my knee. What the hell is this madman going on about now, you might ask? I thought this was a wine review? Well, yes and yes. Let me get straight to it.
Susana Balbo is without argument the most influential winemaker in South America. We may say the same about the world stage if we include Woman to the title, you decide. The wines she has brought to us this year are an incredible display of talent beginning with the head turning Torrontés ’06, a “Talbott ‘Sleepy Hollow’” of Torrontés if you will. Rich tones of butterscotch with a leesy finish I usually associate with Monterey chard, all in an affordable white wine.
Her gaggle of children, her Crios de Susana Balbo, are entry level wines that are great values as well as benchmark varietal statements. The Rosé of Malbec ’06 is just off-dry and fruit driven, a fine aperitif. The Crios Malbec ‘05 is an elegant, lighter bodied wine with balanced fruit and acidity. The Syrah-Bonarda ’05 is a ripe, complex blend with many layers of fruit that will be appearing soon on a list near you. The Cabernet is perhaps too soft and easy to drink, not much of a complaint I know, but my notes are consistent. Let’s move up the ladder in quality and you will see what I’m talkin’ about….
BenMarco wines are the work of Ms. Balbo’s husband, Pedro Marchevsky, a wizard of vineyard management. A seminar with this couple on the wine production and terroir of Argentina hipped me to some serious efforts goin’ on down yonder. These folks work hard to bring us these great wines. They utilize drip irrigation techniques coupled with computerized management systems to insure these great wines are not an accident but a repeatable occurrence. That means better wine for you and me, salud! The Cabernet Sauvignon ’04 is so drinkable, balanced and fruit forward that this could be a premium pour, say for $12 a glass and everyone goes home happy. The Malbec ’04 is a thick and rich offering with a full and rounded profile. I am however saving my pennies however for the first release of Pedro’s Expresivo ’03, an outrageous blend of old-vine Malbec, Cabernet, Bonarda, Syrah, and Tannat. Yes, he included that monster from the Madiran, Tannat! Why, you might ask, because the grapes have time to ripen here where they struggle to reach acceptable ripeness levels in their homelands. The climate is such that there are up to 70 days between veraison and harvest compared to say 45 days in Bordeaux. Now that’s hang time! That’s what can help make great wine. What’s amusing to me is that this all flies in the face of my predilection for hands-off, organic vineyard management. These vineyards are fine-tuned and micro-managed, no; make that hyper-managed as they are in so arid a land that the vines would be dust without the constant attention of M. Marchevsky and his troops.
The phyloxera louse cannot live in Mendoza, and so we have the only original genetic rootstock from St. Emilion in Bordeaux, (to say nothing of every other variety named in this treatise). Hard to believe but in St. Emilion in 1855 the most important variety was the Malbec grape. The phyloxera infestation devastated Bordeaux and the replanting didn’t include the same ratio. Hey, I’m guessing it’s called Mal-bec, bad nose in French, because of nasty vegetal aromas which come from under ripe Malbec. The nose is not so mal when the grapes are ripe methinks. Back to the present tasting.
The signature wines of Susana Balbo are her Malbec and her Cabernet. The Cabernet Sauvignon’03, a most excellent oeuvre with gorgeous fully ripened fruit flavors supported by the classic structure that the cabernet grape posesses. The Malbec ’05 is a stand out, a must-have wine that proves my point about the ancient rootstock. Sure it’s great we have phyloxera resistant rootstock everywhere to combat that insidious beastie, but I can’t help thinking that we have cut ourselves off from some incredible unique flavors arising from our Frankenstein-in-the-vineyard approach. Hmmm.
Okay, here are four more Argentine winners taken from the VOS selections portfolio (Distributor du Jour, Thanks, Ken). More Malbec is good. Malbec at $7 a glass is better. From the Bodegas del Fin del Mundo in Patagonia, a cool climate region in Southern Argentina, the Postales Malbec ’05 gets a nod from me as a great house pour and garners 88 points for a value non-pareil. Benchmark stuff, really.
La Posta del Vinatero label present single vineyard wines from Luis Reginato of Luca fame. The Bonarda ’04 is thick and sweet, really nice at 87 points. Me, I’m buying the Angel Paulucci Vineyard Malbec ’05 and handing it out as gifts to impress my wine savvy friends.
Luca, run by Laura Catena, produces a very good Chardonnay ’05 from vineyards almost a mile above sea level. The Syrah ’04 is awful nice with an array of super ripe fruit flavors that I highly recommend. 90 points, easy.
My favorite of all these wines has to be the Beso de Dante ’02. It is a Cabernet/Malbec blend that has the rounded elegance of the Malbec married to the backbone, structure and length of the Cabernet. The ‘Kiss’ is a complete wine that for me best expresses the Argentine Acme.
One last winery we ought to mention today and that is Tikal. Owned by Ernesto Catena who seeks to make wines “to provide pleasure rather than provoke contemplation; an expression of emotion rather than intellect.” He surely got me thinkin’ with this mad-ass Bonarda blend called Patriota ’04. I swear the Bonarda was so thick and rich that they had to add 40% Syrah so that it would pour from the bottle, amazing. Tikal‘s Amorio ’05 has won the prize as the #1 Malbec in the New York Times. While it is certainly good it didn’t outshine the tradition-rich Malbec ‘04 of Roberto de la Mota of Mendel Winery, and I couldn’t rate it above the Malbec of Oh Susana herself Balbo, so who you gonna believe? In fact I liked their Jubilo ’04 better. This wine is a blend of Cab, Malbec, and Merlot and though a bit pricey it is outstanding stuff. Great integration of oak with deep, rich lower mid-range tones, satisfy.
I mentioned Mendel Winery and would be remiss if I didn’t include their signature wine made from old-vine Malbec and Cabernet grown in the Lujan de Cuyo, the finest vineyard sites in Mendoza. Unus ’04 is possessed of great elegance, length and longevity. An excellent tribute to Bordeaux that surpasses most current French releases today. Unus is not a show-stopping International styled wine. It is a subtle and understated wine that will reward patience and kind attention.
There you have it friends, a quick over-view of some fine Argentine wines and their provenance. There are many more excellent wines to be had; this is by no means a comprehensive report. Think of it as a core sample from which we can theorize generalities based on our specific observations. No, don’t do that, that’s way too wine geek for me, did I really say that? Let’s just promise to get back together again and talk this out. Take notes or it doesn’t count as homework, thus no points for you. Au revoir, ciao, later. CS 01/07

2006 Torrontés Crios de Susana Balbo Butterscotch notes add depth/complexity 90*
2006 Rosé of Malbec Crios de S. Balbo Great fruit character, off dry, nice 87
2005 Malbec Crios de Susana Balbo Elegant, lighter styled, balanced 86
2005 Syrah/Bonarda Crios de Susana Balbo Thick, rich, ripe and deeply layered 88
2005 Cabernet Crios de Susana Balbo Soft, round, too sweet and easy for me 84
2004 Cabernet BenMarco Plush, ripe, pillowy soft yet firm underneath 89
2004 Malbec Ben Marco Well extracted, voluptuous fruit, balanced 90
2003 Expresivo BenMarco Unique Old World blend that kicks ass, yow 95*
2003 Cabernet Susana Balbo Gorgeous fruit with classic structure 96*
2005 Malbec Susana Balbo Superior fruit with depth and length to age 97*
2005 Postales Malbec Bodegas Fin del Mundo Benchmark wine, now look at the price 88
2004 Bonarda La Posta del Vinatero Thick, rich, sweet and really unique, nice 87
2005 Malbec Vinatero Paulucci Vineyard Overweight, beefy kinda wine 90
2005 Chardonnay Luca Great richness, well delineated, elegante 87
2004 Syrah Luca Super-ripe fruit and great structure will tell 90
2002 Beso de Dante Luca Epitome of great Argentine wine, try this 96
2004 Patriota Tikal Amazing viscous blend of Bonarda and Syrah 89
2005 Amorio Tikal Middle of the road kinda Malbec here 88
2004 Jubilo Tikal Admirable Meritage blend, quite complex 90
2004 Malbec Mendel Winery Traditional exposition, very nicely gaited 89
2004 Unus Mendel winery Great elegance, length and longevity 94

©2007 The Cyber Sommelier