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Anthony Gismondi Gives his Views on Argentine Wine

Anthony Gismondi and Stuart Tobe, journalists for Wine Access Magazine (www.wineaccess.ca) and the Gismondi On Wine website (www.gismondionwine.com), visited Argentina from November 7th to 14th.

Anthony Gismondi and Stuart Tobe, journalists for Wine Access Magazine (www.wineaccess.ca) and the Gismondi On Wine website (www.gismondionwine.com), visited Argentina from November 7^th to 14^th.

Their itinerary included winery visits, vineyard tours, wine tastings and dinners with wine sector personalities in Mendoza and Cafayate. They also participated in a tasting of icon Argentine Malbecs and of vintage wines, in a special session with Argentine expert Fabricio Portelli.

Upon the end of his visit, Anthony Gismondi – whose trips to Argentina are becoming more and more frequent –, said that “this was a great trip; I found lots of positive things.” He also praised the quality of Argentine wines, and went on to offer a few recommendations on the issues of appellation of origin and the making of two types of wine in which he showed particular interest: red blends and whites.

Argentine Wine Beyond Malbec. Gismondi highlighted the fact that more dedication and care are given to vine management and the harvesting process nowadays; this has led to more efficiency, which in turn is positively reflected in each bottle. “In general, I think the wines we taste are better and better each year. In Canada we love Malbec, and people are buying it; but we are eager to see what’s coming next.”

Gismondi further expressed that it was very interesting to taste Malbec/Cabernet, Malbec/Syrah, and even Bornada blends; he thought they offered an attractive complexity and found they were different in terms of aroma and flavor.

Appellations of Origin: An Urgent Problem to Solve. Gismondi emphasized the need to make better use of regional appellations of origin. “I don’t know why Argentina is taking such a long time to tell us where the grapes come from, or where the wine is made. Most of the wine sold in Canada comes from ‘Mendoza’, and one gets tired of that after some time. ‘Malbec from Mendoza’ alone doesn’t tell us much. We’re interested in getting to know how many wines can be found that are labeled with the 'Tupungato’, ‘Altamira’, or ‘Cafayate’ appellations, or any other,” he stated.

He maintained that it is important for Argentina to move ahead in this respect since Canadian consumers are ready to pay a lot of money for Argentine wine. “If we look at the wine we buy from the rest of the world within the same price ranges, we’ll see that most of them have a well-defined appellation area, and this is displayed on the front label of the bottle – not on the back label –. This makes the wine more attractive: it is more than just Malbec, it is Malbec from La Consulta or Malbec from Las Compuertas.”

According to the expert, modern consumers are typically young and they move about in a modern world. They are intelligent, sophisticated, and demand information. They prefer to know where the wine they are spending their money on comes from, and to be able to find that place on a map, just as they like to know where their food and water come from.

Gismondi even ventured to say that perhaps in 10 or 15 years nobody will be interested in buying varietal wines, but blends. He insisted that every bottle should provide information on the wine it contains and on the origin of the winery that made it. “Varieties are secondary. The most important thing is to say where the wine is from and who made it – this alone is perfect and will bring about infinite opportunities.”

Alcohol and White Wines. With respect to white wines, the journalist said that he considers Torrontés to be a very interesting wine. He believes that the industry needs to work on improving white wines in general, and that there is still room for improvement with Chardonnay. However, he admitted he had found some good Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier.

He further suggested that alcohol contents need to be lowered a little, since a white wine should not contain more than 14º or 14.5º of alcohol at the most. “It's difficult to drink wines with 15° or 16° of alcohol. We taste them but we don’t drink them. If Argentina wants to sell a lot of white wine, it needs to find a balance by lowering the alcohol content and preserving the freshness. Things are going well in general; I find there are very high quality wines,” he remarked.

During his visit, Gismondi also found that one is generally offered red wine, while it would be nice to try more white wines. “The pendulum is swinging back once more. Some time ago, consumption turned almost completely to white wine, then red wine was all the rage, and now there is a tendency to balance out the consumption of each. More people want to drink white wine; it goes well with meals.”

Argentine Wine in the Canadian Market. In Canada, Argentine wine is very well-known and consumers like its quality and price, but especially its flavor.

“Most wine stores are state-run, but private wine stores in British Columbia or Alberta have a lot of Argentine wine and they do well. We need some more varietals or blends, definitely with an appellation. This way, we’ll be able to buy a wine from Valle de Uco and compare it with a wine from Cafayate or with wines from Altamira, or Tunuyán. We like that because in that way we know they are different from one another. If we’re not told where a wine comes from, we'll probably choose another one.”

When it came to talking about the promotion of Argentine wine in Canada, the specialist strongly encouraged Argentine producers to continue telling the history of the country, since the rest of the countries are telling theirs. Nonetheless, he pointed out that people are calling for more “real” information: “Less tango and more information. Argentina is exotic; it has a great reputation; it sounds interesting; but now everything should be about the wine: who produces it, where it comes from, where I can find it, how much it costs, where I can buy it. This is the type of things Argentina should be doing in our market,” he concluded.