Trapiche Winery Visit

Lujan de Cujo
Tasted Saturday, September 12, 2009 by french16 with 662 views

Introduction

During our wine tour in Mendoza, We mainly stayed away from the big wineries in favour to small, boutique, not exported wineries. However, we wanted to see one big (should I say huge!) bodega and opted for Trapiche (could have been Norton).
While not fans of Trapiche wines in general we thought it could be interesting to see that side of the business in Argentina.
We were greeted by Gaston on a Saturday afternoon while the Bodega was closed (Gaston kindly opened it for us since we exchanged enails earlier). Gaston is one of the kindest people we ever met among all our winery visits (worldwide). The tour was fun and interesting.

Flight 1 - Trapiche Whites (2 Notes)

  • 2007 Trapiche Chardonnay Fond de Cave 86 Points

    Argentina, Mendoza

    Spices, apple and lemon with hint of vanilla/butterscotch. Started balanced but with time and as it warmed up it becames a little heavy with riper and exotic fruits appearing along with licorice.
    29 pesos locally, not exported to the US.

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  • 2007 Trapiche Sauvignon Blanc Fond de Cave 86 Points

    Argentina, Mendoza

    Made with grapes from Tupungato.
    Like the chardonnay, started ok with smoky asparagus and grassy notes. Then became very NZ like and varietal.

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Flight 2 - Trapiche Reds - Entry levels (4 Notes)

Flight 3 - Trapiche Top end wines (3 Notes)

  • 2006 Trapiche Malbec Single Vineyard Viña Adriana Venturín 87 Points

    Argentina, Mendoza, Valle de Uco, La Consulta

    Grapes from La Consulta in the Valle de Uco.
    Dark core (darker than the Cristina y Bibiana Coleto). Very oaky with toasty and coffee on the nose and palate.
    Hard to tell where's it's going right now because of the wood. I would have loved to see more elegance and less wood here to better express the malbec.

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  • 2006 Trapiche Malbec Single Vineyard Viña Cristina Y Bibiana Coletto 89 Points

    Argentina, Mendoza, Valle de Uco, El Peral

    Named for Cristina and Bibiana, two nieces who inherited the vineyards of uncle Don Victorio Coletto, a grower whose Single Vineyard Malbec Trapiche honored in 2004. The girls were very close to him and they learned all they could from his expertise.
    Located in the area of La Consulta, San Carlos, in the Mendoza region, the 57 year-old vineyards are situated at 990 meters elevation. El Peral, Tupungato, in the northwest part of Uco Valley, is at 1,127 meters elevation, one of the highest and coolest growing areas of Mendoza. The combination of altitude and old vines fosters deep root systems, making this a very unique place to grow Malbec. Vines are planted in a North/South orientation at a density of 5,000 vines per hectare in a low espalier trellis system. Yields are a low 2,600 kg per hectare, furrow irrigation is used and the vines have been planted on their own rootstocks. Vineyard soils are alluvial and sandy, with many pebbles. Grapes are hand harvested into 20 kg. plastic cases, and bunches are selected before de-stemming. There’s a strict berry selection before fermentation and maceration in small concrete vats, for a minimum of 23 days, at 23-25ºC. Natural malolactic fermentation precedes aging for 18 months in new French oak barrels.

    2006 Harvest Notes:
    Optimal thermal conditions allowed for a slow, complete ripening of the grapes, resulting in a high concentration of color, complex aromas and excellent structure.

    Much better than the Adriana tasted next to it. Fresher and with less oak than the Adriana. Smoky notes along some weird peachy notes. Nice red fruits and cassis on the palate.
    Needs a little time to fully digest the oak and develop secondary aromatics.

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  • 2004 Trapiche Manos 88 Points

    Argentina, Mendoza, Valle de Uco, Altamira

    18 months in barrles, 24 months in bottle.
    Oaky, cedary and raisiny. Some vanilla on the palate along toasty oak. A little porty, amarone like with a finish on charcoal.
    A little heavy right now. I would be interested to follow its evolution.

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Closing

Thank you Gaston !

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