Our final day saw us return to Luján de Cuyo, first visiting the Familia Cassone winery in their Mayor Drummond vineyard. Sofia introduced us to the estate, founded in 1950s by Roberto Cassone, with the winery built in 1998 by son Eduardo. Beside some Malbec vines, we learnt that they are slowly converting from flood to drip irrigation, while nurturing their 100 year old roots! They also own vineyards in Maipú, Agrelo, San Carlos and Patagonia.
A quick trip through the winery took us into the beautiful vaulted tasting room where Eduardo’s son Federico led us through an amazing tasting, seducing us with his humour and charm.
Federico explained that the family originally came from Piedmont. The estate exports 70% of its production and Justerini & Brooks stock their wines in the UK. We talked about climate change, and the impact of shorter winters and hotter summers, which is requiring change in the vineyard, though 2025 should be a very good year.
Federico was passionate about winemaking and creating wines in new ways. The family originate from Piedmont so he harbours dreams of planting Barbera. We tasted their Method Traditional Brut Nature made from 100% Chardonnay from Agrelo, done as an experiment and now being developed for more regular production. He was particularly proud of his natural wine range with their labels designed by his daughter.
Our tasting covered a tank tasting of a Sauvignon Blanc, the aforementioned fizz, the Obra Prima Brut Nature, and then two Obra Prima Gran Reserva Wines, followed by two Gran Obra wines (only made in the best years), one made from 100% Syrah. And then a wonderful treat: a 2010 Malbec (the Obra Prima Maximus), giving us a chance to see how top quality Malbec can evolve – which is extremely well! All week we have mainly been drinking beautiful smooth wines that are (by the standards of some European regions) relatively young, but this 15 year old wine showed glorious complexity of flavours, smooth, rich mouthfeel and fresh acidity. We are going home ready to clear a place in our cellars/cupboards/dreams for laying down some Malbec.
Reluctantly we left Cassone, and a short drive away came to Vinorum, the winery of the Altieri family, also of Italian extraction. Their magnificent old wine ry has been converted into a modern facility flanked by the old equipment that has been creatively restored, with old concrete tanks made into offices and tasting rooms, art displayed beside the huge (30,000 litre) old wooden toneis, and a collection of old winemaking equipment. Maria Altieri led us through the old winery, catching glimpses of the current vintage in the modern part. With our new found interest in old vintages the collection of bottles from 1990 was particularly fascinating.
The we jumped back in the coach for a hop across the road to their restaurant among the vines, where we had a light lunch of freshly prepared tapas on the verandah, accompanied by a rosé, a Cabernet Franc, a Malbec Reserva and their Icon wine Victorio Altieri. This 2021 vintage had won a Platinum Medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards, and it freshness, concentration, balance and finish were superb.
It really was a good thing that we had only had a tapas lunch as that evening it was our final dinner at Centauro restaurant. With some fizz, a couple of white wines, (of course) some Malbec and a final fizz we had a delicious meal of delicate starters followed by perfectly cooked steak and a light pudding. As many of us would be reconvening in Santiago in a few days we were light on speeches, but nice things were said about each other and most importantly about the Argentinians we met, their courtesy, generosity and creativity. Definitely a place to return to.
