I recently returned from my trip to South America. As some of you know, I left at the end of February for Argentina to work the harvest. I worked in the Lujan de Cuyo region, southeast of Mendoza at Viña Cobos. This winery produces around 150,000 cases annually and focuses on Malbec and Chardonnay. Viña Cobos is a partnership between Paul Hobbs of California and the Marchioris, an Argentine couple. Viña Cobos has five different brands: Cobos, Bramare Vineyard Designation, Bramare Appellation, Cocodrilo and Felino but is most famed for their Cobos line.
Harvest came fast and early for us at Viña Cobos. Due to the frequent rains, we were forced to take everything off the vine all at once in order to avoid losing the crop to botrytis and mildew. We finished receiving grapes an entire month earlier than expected. Because of this early finish I had some time to explore and travel. I spent some time tasting in Lujan de Cuyo and Uco Valley in Argentina and then crossed the Andes over to Chile and did some tasting in the Casablanca Valley.
My favorite wineries I tasted at in Lujan (Argentina) were: Tierras Altas and Finca Decero
...in Uco Valley (Argentina): Clos de los Siete and Andeluna
...in Casablanca (Chile): Kingston
Overall a majority of my favorite wines came from Clos de los Siete. The winery that had the best hospitality was Tierras Altas and the best lunch I had was at Andeluna.
Some of the other wineries I tasted at were Cruzat, Finca de Decero, Septima, Belasco, Salentein, Achaval Ferrer, and Casas del Bosque.
