TRAPICHE: ARGENTINA’S GUARDIAN OF MALBEC
While Chile offers a diverse mix of varietals, Argentina has long focused on a much shorter list. In Argentina, Malbec is king and one of its largest wineries, Trapiche, protectors of its reputation.
HISTORICAL ROOTS, MODERN TASTE
Trapiche’s Manager of Operations and winemaking legend Daniel Pi has been the winery’s guardian of Malbec since taking over head winemaking duties at the legendary Argentinean winery in 2002. His current and past roles come with a lot of responsibility. Established in 1883, Trapiche is Argentina’s oldest continually producing winery. Its Florentine style building, built in the early part of the 20th century, set amongst vineyards in Mendoza’s Maipú district, is an iconic symbol of the strength and history of the Argentinean wine industry. Trapiche is also the country’s largest exporter of wine. It produces approximately 3 million cases per year and has built an enviable reputation across the globe for the quality of their wines. Pi’s role is to respect both Trapiche’s past, but also deliver exceptional quality, value driven wines suited to the tastes of the modern wine drinker. As he says, “our philosophy is very customer oriented. We believe in giving them extra value.”
FOR THE LOVE OF MALBEC
According to Pi, “Malbec is very charming. It has great colour and it is very soft and appealing with lots of plum, cherry and red fruit flavours, along with in some cases mineral and graphite notes. Malbec always looks rich and powerful, but the wines themselves are very elegant. I’m sure that is why people understand and love our Malbec wines. Our Malbec wines are also very versatile with food. You can enjoy them with everything from pasta to beef.”
MALBEC’S DEEP ROOTS
Malbec’s roots run deep in Mendoza, but it wasn’t always the star of Argentina’s wine industry. “For many years, Malbec was considered a secondary grape, used mostly for blending. We didn’t begin producing Malbec as a varietal until the 1970s,” says Pi. Much of the Malbec vines brought into Argentina were productive French stock, which produced large berries. “Around the mid-1990s we realized that we had some amazing Malbec vines in our vineyards,” says Pi. The first Malbec vines to arrive in Argentina were pre-phylloxera (France’s vineyards were devastated by a vineyard louse in the latter part of the 19thcentury). According to Pi, “eventually we realized the material we were bringing in from France was not of the quality of what was originally planted here. Our native Malbec vines aren’t as productive and produce smaller berries (grapes), which means better extraction capacity for us. We stopped bringing in the French material and developed our own nursery, propagating our own vines. The quality of our raw material is the number one reason for the quality of our Malbec. We have this richness of selection of Malbec vines which we replicate into something unique. There aren’t many wineries doing this.”
TRAPICHE’S HIGH STANDARDS
According to Pi, the other reason for the quality of Trapiche Malbec is their growing conditions. “In Mendoza, we have the benefit of elevation and good soils, which translate to the unique and high quality of our wines. We treat each plot of Malbec differently. Each is picked according to the right time for the particular area. Many of our vineyards are located in the traditional growing area in Mendoza. These vines produce wines that are rich but approachable with soft tannins. In the late 1980s we started to plant Malbec in even higher elevations, in the Uco Valley (a sub-region of Mendoza). When you plant here, you need to come with drilling equipment to allow you to get water from underneath the earth. Over time, and with better technology at our disposal, we planted even higher, developing new sites in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Of the approximately 1000 hectares we grow, nearly 350 of which are in the Uco Valley. When we go up, the soils are rockier, less fertile and less water retentive. We are closer to mountains and their effect. This extra air conditioning at nighttime creates a bigger spread of temperature between day and night. The extra height also means the skins of the grapes naturally get thicker. It all adds up to wine with more colour, more acidity, chalky tannins and very high aging potential. These wines will age and provide a sense of place when you taste them.”