South American Wine Guide, Independent Guide to the Best Wines in South America for Visitors to Peru

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South American Wines

An Introduction to the Wines of South America for Visitors to Peru

Wines from Argentina: Introduction / Regions / Notable Producers / Reviews

Notable Producers: Enrique Foster

Location
At present, we have two Malbec vineyards located in what is generally acknowledged to be the world's best terrain for the Malbec grape, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. Our vineyards sit at an elevation of 3000 feet above sea level on the eastern flank of the Andes, with hot days, cold nights and little rain. The first vineyard, in Carrodilla, where we have built our winery, consists of 30 acres of ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1919 and the second, in Las Compuertas, has 20 acres of less venerable vines planted in 1966.

Malbec
Malbec is a varietal originating in the Cahors region of southwestern France near Bordeaux where it is also known as Auxerrois or Cot. Malbec is primarily blended into Bordeaux wines to give added color and dimension to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot but is also produced in Cahors as a varietal, meaning a wine that is at least 80% Malbec. The climate of southwestern France, however, does not allow the Malbec grapes to ripen fully, making it impossible to achieve the soft, rich complexity of the best Argentine Malbecs.

Irrigation
The old vineyards of Mendoza do not use automatic drip irrigation but rely instead on irrigation canals first built by the Huarpe Indians a thousand years ago to capture the constant flow of melting snow from the eternally white-capped peaks of the Andes, thus creating an oasis of green in the desert that was Mendoza. The sandy gravel affords excellent drainage and is ideal for vines. At times, old vineyards have used to good advantage their ancient water rights in order to flood the dormant vines each winter for two to three weeks under a foot of water. This curious procedure has no effect whatever on the vines at that time of year but it does drown potential vine pests in the earth such as the phylloxera beetle, thus maintaining the health of the vines ecologically.

Production
Complementing the traditional methods of vine care, we have adopted the latest procedures of canopy management and green harvesting to reduce production and thus concentrate the flavors and sweet tannins of our densely planted old Malbec vines (2,200 vines per acre). Following our purchase of the old vineyard, we have more than halved our yield from 11,500 to 4400 lbs per acre vastly improving the quality of our grapes. This effort has been directed by our vineyard manager who holds degrees in both agricultural engineering and enology and has had many years of experience.

Cellars
Our construction began by digging out a huge crater of more than 6000 cubic meters to create cellars which will accommodate up to 2000 barrels. The cellars were then totally buried under tons of earth and highly-insulating pumice stone to assure a constant temperature and humidity ideal for the ageing of our Malbec without the use of air conditioning.

We buy our barrels of French oak from Seguin Moreau and Taransaud; we may introduce some American oak in the future.

Winemaker
The quality of our vineyard and winery as well as our willingness to provide the best possible equipment for our winemaker enabled us to attract one of the stars of Argentine winemaking, Mauricio Lorca, to join us. Mauricio has university degrees in Enology and Viticulture. At age 21 he began his professional life in Mendoza at Bodega Esmeralda. Two years later he joined Michel Torino in Salta. At 24, he returned to Mendoza to become Head Winemaker of Luigi Bosca. Four years later he was made Head Winemaker at Finca La Celia where he produced several prize-winning wines. We are proud to have him at Bodega Enrique Foster.

Gravity Flow
Ours is the first purpose-built winery in the world to produce only Malbec varietals by gravity flow. The ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vineyard we acquired in Lujan de Cuyo had no winery: the grapes were sold to local wineries. To produce the best Malbec possible by controlling each step of the wine-making process, we knew we would have to build our own winery.

Intrigued by the concept of gravity flow, we went to California to study several winery construction projects and became convinced that the extra cost of a gravity flow facility would be more than offset by the superior quality of the wine resulting from the elimination of pumping the wine from each stage to the next.

To achieve gravity flow on the flat terrain of central Mendoza, we built a moveable overhead I-beam crane which could lift the crushed grapes up and over the fermentation tanks, a deep cellar for the barrels, and a multi-stage freight elevator to raise the aged wine above the blending tanks and bottling equipment. In order to fit this equipment into the traditional Mendoza winery design of three equal naves, we raised the roof of the central nave, creating the profile of a church - entirely appropriate for the worship of the grape.

We ordered custom-designed French stainless steel fermentation tanks, selection tables, destemmer/crusher and press from Constructions Soudees du Coteau and Vaslin-Boucher.

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http://www.privatecellar.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=53&Itemid=99999999

Bodega Enrique Foster
Mendoza, Argentina

In the heart of Mendoza lies Lujan de Cuyo, considered one of the best locations for Malbec. Bodega Enrique Foster has two blocks of vines in this area, the first planted in 1919, pre-phylloxera and therefore ungrafted, the second, younger vines planted in 1966 – old vines by European standards, even if not by the winery’s own strict definition. Ally to the vine age the vineyard location at 3,000 feet above sea level and minimal rainfall, all the ingredients are in place for intense fruit flavours with great concentration.

The objective of Bodega Enrique Foster is to produce the best Malbec in Argentina and no expense has been spared from the latest vineyard management to the new French oak barrels in the underground cellars of the state-of- the-art gravity-flow winery.

The wine is made by one of the stars of Argentine winemaking, Mauricio Lorca, who’s impressive CV includes companies such as Bodega Esmeralda, Luigi Bosca and Finca La Celia where he produced several award-winning wines.

Grape Variety
Malbec
Soil
Sandy gravel
Irrigation
1,000 year old irrigation channels bring water down from the Andes
Oak Ageing
Ique: none
Malbec Reserva: 12 months in French and American Oak
Limited Edition: 14-15 months in new French Oak

The French oak is sourced from Seguin Moreau and Taransaud

Ique Malbec Bodega Foster, Mendoza 2007 @ £7.93 per bottle

Enrique Foster Reserva, Bodega Foster, Lujan de Cuyo 2005 @ £13.90 per bottle

Enrique Foster Limited Edition, Bodega Foster, Lujan de Cuyo 2002 @ £20.56 per bottle

Related pages:

Enrique Foster scores in the Wine Advocate
Spring wines in Lloyd's List
Fantastic Parker Scores for Bodega Foster!
The Argentina Wine Awards
Bodega Foster in Decanter Magazine
Ique Malbec in the Weekend FT
The Tasters Guild of New York
Elgin and Bodega Foster in The Lady

Enrique Foster scores in the Wine Advocate
The team at Bodega Foster are rightly very proud of their latest review by Jay Miller in Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. The wines, made by rising star Mauricio Lorca, received fantastic scores and notes.

Bodega Enrique Foster Malbec Limited Edition 2004 - 92 points
The 2004 Malbec Limited Edition was aged for 15 months in new French oak. It was the product of a cooler year and shows a bit of mint and pepper in its nose. It is a more structured effort with good depth, plenty of spicy, black cherry fruit, excellent balance, and a fruit-filled finish. Cellar it for four years and drink it from 2012 to 2025. Buy the 2002 Vintage on-line here!

Bodega Enrique Foster Malbec Reserva 2005 - 91 points
The purple-colored 2005 Malbec Reserva offers an attractive bouquet of cedar, mineral, plum, and blueberry. This leads to a forward wine with some elegance, good depth, and a pure finish. It will evolve for several years and provide prime drinking from 2011 to 2020. Buy it on-line here!

Congratulations to Enrique, Mauricio and the Bodega Foster team!

Fantastic Parker Scores for Bodega Foster!
Our congratulations to Bodega Foster who are celebrating after receiving some fabulous scores from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.

Both Enrique Foster Limited Edition 2003 and Enrique Foster Finca Castro Barros Reserva 2003 were awarded 92 points.

We were delighted to hear that our Malbec Reserva and Limited Edition from Bodega Enrique Foster received three stars in a recent Decanter Magazine Panel Tasting.

Malbec Reserva, Finca Castro Barros, Lujan de Cuyo Mendoza, Argentina 2003 Bodega Enrique Foster @ £13.51 per bottle
Nice balance of fruit and oak. Maturing fruit, well structured and nice fruit on the finish.

Enrique Foster Limited Edition, Bodega Foster, Lujan de Cuyo Mendoza, Argentina 2002 (6 per case) @ £20.56 per bottle
Good creamy, toasty black fruit, expressive. Sleek black fruit, elegant, velvety tannin, a touch hot on finish but classy.

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http://www.justmalbec.ca/

In the center of the world's premier location for Malbec - Lujan De Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, Bodega Enrique Foster has built a state-of-the-art gravity-flow winery surrounded by 80-year old vines. The objective is nothing less than to produce the best Malbec in Argentina - which is to say the best in the world. No expense has been spared, from the latest vineyard management to the stainless steel equipment and the new French oak barrels in the underground cellars.At each stage of winemaking, cranes and a multi-level freight elevator combine to move the wine without pumping, thus avoiding its detrimental effects on wine.

At present, they have two Malbec vineyards located in what is generally acknowledged to be the world's best terrain for the Malbec grape, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. The vineyards sit at an elevation of 3000 feet above sea level on the eastern flank of the Andes, with hot days, cold nights and little rain. The first vineyard, in Carrodilla, where they have built our winery, consists of 30 acres of ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1919 and the second, in Las Compuertas, has 20 acres of less venerable vines planted in 1966.

Bodega Enrique Foster is the first purpose-built winery in the world to produce only Malbec varietals by gravity flow. The ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vineyard acquired in Lujan de Cuyo had no winery: the grapes were sold to local wineries. To produce the best Malbec possible by controlling each step of the wine-making process, Bodega Enrique Foster had to build its own winery. To achieve gravity flow on the flat terrain of central Mendoza, they built a moveable overhead I-beam crane which could lift the crushed grapes up and over the fermentation tanks, a deep cellar for the barrels, and a multi-stage freight elevator to raise the aged wine above the blending tanks and bottling equipment. In order to fit this equipment into the traditional Mendoza winery design of three equal naves, they raised the roof of the central nave, creating the profile of a church - entirely appropriate for the worship of the grape.

South American Wines - An Independent Guide to the some of the Best Wines from Peru, Argentina & Chile.