We went to screening of the great documentary - Boom Varietal: The Rise of Malbec, it was an entrant in the New Jersey Film Festival which is hosted at Rutgers University. At the screening we also had the opportunity to meet one of the winemakers featured in the film, Hector Durigutti and to taste four of the wonderful wines that he and his brother produce in Mendoza, Argentina.
The film, produced by Rage Productions of Bend, Oregon, was excellent and truly portrayed the passion and struggles behind the great Malbec wines we so enjoy here in North America.
We tasted four Durigutti wines. They were all exceptional but each in a different way.
The first wine was Durigutti Bonarda. While the Bonarda grape is the second most popular in Argentina, you don't see it that often in the States. We love Bonarda and had some very good ones while we were in Buenos Aires last year. Originally from Lombardy, Italy it has found a wonderful home in Argentina where many of the winemakers have deep Italian roots. This one is a fine example of how good Bonarda can be. It has won 89 points from Wine Spectator two years in a row.
The second wine was the first of the three Malbecs. This is their entry level Malbec, they call it Classico, it is really good. We loved this wine when we first tasted it at a BBQ back in 2008. It has really clean and rich flavors.
We then sipped their Malbec Reserva which is superb. It is made primarily with grapes from the La Consulta vineyard, the vines there were planted in the 1940’s. It has a rich deep purple color. The aromas and flavors resonate with plum, fig, and strawberry. There is nice tannin and acidity to balance these flavors and a finish of white pepper. This one sells for around $27 and really shows how big and rich Malbecs can be.
The wine that really blew me away. A wine that can be fairly be compared to the greats of Bordeaux and Piedmont was the Durigutti Malbec Familia. This is a huge wine with a price tag to match of around $70.
It is a wine like this that cause many to call Hector and Pablo the "Masters of Malbec from Mendoza."
Familia, their flagship wine, "is recognized as one of the greatest coming out of Mendoza. The wine comes from two of the greatest vineyard sites in Mendoza that have some of the oldest vines in the region. Only 250 cases of the wine were made and are extremely rare."
It has "Super ripe aromas of cassis, chocolate mint, graphite and sexy oak; reminded me of a Napa cabernet. Lush and broad, with a restrained sweetness and enticing minty lift to the flavors of cassis, licorice and minerals. Sexy oak and inner-mouth floral character add complexity." exclaims wine critic Stephen Tanzer. I could not have said it better myself.
Now I know what Eric Asimov was talking about in his article Argentina Opens the Tap for Malbec.
Durigutti wines are imported by the fine Southern Wine Group
Here is a preview of the film.
