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Bodega Achaval Ferrer
Azcuénaga 453
Luján de Cuyo
Mendoza, Argentina
+54 351 425 3812 tel/fax
ventas@achaval-ferrer.com

Quite a good website too!

I first tasted the wines of Achával-Ferrer in Zürich last year when they were poured by one of the producers - Manuel Ferrer Minetti:

2000 Achával-Ferrer, Malbec/Cabernet.S/Merlot - Mendoza
Very purple. Blackcurrant and pepper on the nose. Palate is furrily tannic, not so fat but with excellent fruit intensity. Medium plus length. Very interesting. Good.
2000 Achával-Ferrer, Gran Malbec Finca Altamira - Mendoza
Very deep, in fact saturated purple. High toned interesting nose. Sweet and very concentrated, fine furry tannins. Very long. Very Good.

So, despite the price I decided it was worth buying a few bottles, but with the intention of saving a few years before drinking. Earlier this year I saw the wines in Buenos Aires and was surprised to see them at prices even higher than in Europe - and only in US dollars if you please! The shop owner confidently told me that these were 'absolutely the best wines of Argentina'. So this year it was once more to Zürich with Manuel Ferrer Minetti again pouring the wines - this time the 2001's. It was certainly more of the same, but with just a little more minerality in the top wine. There is some discussion these days as to whether South America can really produce fine wines - good, technically correct wines can, of course, be found - but what about really fine wines? Of course with on 4 vintages in the bag we can't answer this, but based on the early promise, this producer is really trying to make it.

2001 Achával-Ferrer, Quimera (Malbec/Cabernet.S/Merlot) - Mendoza
Very deep cherry colour. Quite a subdued nose. Concentrated but very balanced palate. From nearly 30 wines tasted far, this has the best tannins yet - velvety smooth. Quite a presence.
2001 Achával-Ferrer, Gran Malbec Finca Altamira - Mendoza
Deep purple colour. The nose is quite high toned with a little spice and pepper, cappucino coffee comes through too. Despite big, big concentration, this wine also shows a sure-footed balance. More mineral than the last wine too. A very black fruit presentation. Super.

So, what do we know about A-F:

The winery was actually set-up in 1998 by Santiago Achával, Manuel Ferrer Minetti and two Italians - the wine-maker Robert Cipresso and Tiziano Siviero who also own a winery in Montalcino - La Fioritta - no wonder I like the wines ;-)
The Mendoza vinyards are set between 700 and 1,100 metres, experiencing hot days and cold nights in an almost desert-like area.
The top wine - La Finca Altamira is made from densely planted, very low yielding 90 year old vines 60 miles south of Mendoza city in place called La Consulta in the Uno valley. It takes (apparently) 3 vines to the bottle or around 12 hl/ha - total production being a little over 600 cases!
The 'second' wine - Quimera manages to get by on 18 hl/ha and has a production run of around 3,600 cases. The grapes are sourced from 3 vineyards in La Consulta, Medrano and Tupungato

The wines are aged in 95:5, French:American oak for the Finca Altamera and 90:10 for the Quimera.