ACHAVAL-FERRER

Mendoza,  Argentina

Our vineyards are located in the foothills of the Andes, in the province of Mendoza, Argentina, from 700 meters to 1100 meters above sea level. The region’s desert climate and soil conditions are ideal for the development of Malbec and other red varieties. Low yields, significant thermal gradients (warm days, cool nights), poor alluvial soils, low rainfall, high altitude and the pure Andes irrigation water, all work together to mature grapes that can be transformed into complex, deep and structured wines.
Achaval-Ferrer is and will always be a small winery. We are joyfully committed to the production of limited quantities of the best red wines. Our team shares this passion for making great wines that are a faithful expression of their terroir.A group of Argentinean and Italian friends started this adventure in 1998, with love for the land and the goal of achieving the highest quality.Santiago Achaval and Manuel Ferrer (pictured below) are the Argentinean partners. The Italian partners are Roberto Cipresso, (the winemaker), and Tiziano Siviero. Both Italians also own La Fiorita Winery in Montalcino. The other key people in the company are Diego Rosso (Vineyard and Winery Operations), and Marcelo Victoria (Sales).

We work very hard in the vineyards to produce grapes that will need very little intervention in the winery. We want our wines to be balanced, complex and concentrated. We want them to show a sense of place, of the land that gave them birth.
The road to this goal is very low yields. Our Quimera blend has an average yield of 18 hectoliters per hectare. The Finca Altamira single-vineyard Malbec has a yield of 12 hectoliters per hectare.
We strive for aerated, sun-drenched canopies and for small bunches of very small grapes. When the location of a vineyard has been chosen with care and a plant has such low yields, the root system can create complexity and concentrate flavors and aromas in a natural way. Also the physiological maturity (tannin maturity) of the grapes will be in synch with their sugar development.
We harvest only until mid-morning for the grapes to be very cool when they arrive in the winery. We do severe triage both on the grape bunches before desteming and on the grapes themselves after desteming, to assure that only the best go into our tanks.

After fermentation (7 to 10 days), the wine is pressed and barrel aged. We use 95% French oak (Taransaud) and 5 % American oak (Canton). The wines stay in barrel until our winemaker decides they have the appropriate balance. No formulas or rigid time frames, just tasting. We don’t search for an oak flavor, but rather for the structure that will allow maximum fruit expression. We bottle without fining or filtering, to preserve aromas and flavors.

See Achaval-Ferrer wines we sell

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