Wines of the Sunstone
In which I attend a mini-tasting of four wines from a French-influenced Mendoza winery.
Another day, another wine tasting. This one hosted in the classrooms of the Escuela Argentina de Sommeliers, one of the local training schools for new “somms”.
Antucura, or sunstone (in Mapudungun, the indigenous language of the western Argentina Mapuche culture), is a paean to French winemaking traditions. Founded by French author and editor Anne-Caroline Biancheri in 1998 when she purchased a 100 hectare (247 acre) property in Vista Flores, Mendoza, a subsection of the well-known Uco Valley. The vineyards are situated on a hillside at 1050 meters (3445 feet) above sea level, roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the city of Mendoza. The first vintage introduced was 2003.
Focusing on blended wines, particularly those that mimic the blends of Bordeaux, the winery makes use of traditional gravity-based winemaking techniques, and aging in small French oak barrels. In the early days, famed “flying winemaker” Michel Rolland played a part in developing their winemaking philosophy. Today, winemaker Mauricio Ortiz (in the pale blue t-shirt in the photo) carries on those traditions.
At this tasting, we tried just four of their wines.
Antucura “Mayta” Single Vineyard Merlot 2023 - the grapes for this wine were harvested in two passes, to get different stages of ripeness, and then vinified together. The wine shows a vivid, deep red color. On the nose, black cherry, tomato leaf, rosemary, and notes of minerality. Fruit forward, medium to full bodied, with fairly high acidity, dry tannins, and a long finish. It’s an excellent wine but I think could benefit from another year in bottle before drinking. Runs around 18000 pesos, or about $15.50.
Antucura “La Folie” 2022 - a blend that changes, at least in proportions, from year to year, this wine is a melange of Merlot, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. If I have this correct, they age half of it for twelve months in French barriques, while the other half matures in steel tanks. These are then blended, bottled, and aged for six months before release.
While perfectly drinkable, this was my least favorite of the tasting, with odd notes of those liqueur-ish chocolate-covered cherries, and a general aroma of vegetation. It’s fruit, and chocolate, forward, medium bodied, moderate acidity, soft tannins, and a moderate length finish. I just found it… weird. Same pricing as the Merlot, 18000 pesos, or $15.50.
Antucura “Blend Selection” 2021 - an equal parts blend of Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon, this is one of their two key Bordeaux blend wines. Aged for a year in a mix of first and second-use French barriques, and then in bottle for another year before release.
It’s got quite the mix of different berry aromas given the blend, with notes of molasses and tar in the background. On the palate, fruit forward, medium bodied, moderate acidity, dry tannins, and a long finish. It was good, but those odd notes, particularly of tar, just didn’t wow me. 26000 pesos according to the winemaker, or about $22.50, for me, is more than I want to pay for this one. Pricing on this one is all over the place - looking at online prices from various local merchants, it ranges from about 16000 to 56000 pesos, which is a ridiculous amount of variation.
Antucura “Grand Vin” 2021 - the flagship Bordeaux blend wine of the winery, this is 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Malbec, the sort of blend you find more in St. Emilion wines on the “Right Bank” (trivia note, the same blend percentages as used by Château Canon La Gaffelière, a 1er Grand Cru). The wine spends eighteen months aging in first and second-use French barriques followed by a year of bottle aging before release.
Rich, black plum and black cherry fruit, graphite, and mint on the nose. A very “international style” wine - a fruit “bomb”, full bodied, fairly high acidity, dry tannins, and very long finish. Another excellent wine, though personally my favorite was the single vineyard Merlot. Again, a surprisingly wide range of prices from retailers around here, from a low of 26000 to a high of 74000 pesos, though most seem to hover around 40000, or about $34.50. Drinkable now, though would benefit from another year or two of aging.