Gauchezco Wine of Argentina - Fabulous Finds!

Seven or eight years ago, I was visiting San Antonio with my family, specifically two boys ages 7 and 11. We had a wonderful time on the River Walk, enjoying the shopping, the canal boats and of course the IMAX theater. I was hot day in San Antonio (like every summer day in San Antonio), and after a couple hours at the hotel swimming pool it became apparent that I would have to find a place for dinner soon. This was a taxing problem; I wanted a place where I could enjoy a nice glass of wine, preferably from a boutique winery and not some conglomerate production house, my youngest wanted pizza and my oldest just wanted food. I called a friend of mine, Dale Blankenship, who was one of my wine suppliers based in San Antonio. He recommended Zinc Bistro & Wine Bar. “Taking my kids to a wine bar for dinner?”, I thought, sounded good to me.

It was only a short walk from our hotel and the perfect place for our dinner that evening. We sat outside by the river walk, in the shade of century old building, surrounded by native plants and trees. It was perfect. I remember that Ryan, my youngest thoroughly enjoyed his pizza, Tom loved his steak and I immersed myself in a glass of Austrian Gruener Veltliner. I can’t remember what I ate, but this crisp, refreshing wine was a wonderful way to finish my busy, busy day in hot, hot San Antonio.

Fast-froward to today . . . I have relocated to the San Antonio area and even though I am no longer a wine director, I keep busy writing about wines and keeping up to date on the happenings in the industry as best as I can. With that in mind, Dale invited me to attend a press luncheon with Shawn Loggins, Executive Vice President of Gauchezco Vineyards and Winery yesterday. I am so very glad I did not decline the invitation, the wines were quite lovely.

Shawn explained that the 650 acres of vines were developed in 1881 by Governor Tiburcio Benegas, a pioneer in Argentina’s wine industry. In 1883 Govenor Benegas brought from France and successfully propagated some of the first vinifera vines, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot and a crossing of Sauvignon Blanc and Moscato, referred to as Torrontes. He believed, correctly so, that Argentina had the right soils and climate to be a world class wine producing nation, and today Argentina is the fourth largest producer of wines in the world. Today this property is owner and operated by Eric Anesi, who at an early age committed himself to creating the very best wines from Argentina.

As we tasted through the Gauchezco line of wines, it became clear that this is a serious winery with a passion for doing things the right way, no funny additives, no chemistry concoctions, no artificial manipulation that is present in all too many bottles at wine at your local store. These wine were all very well made and presented the terroir of Argentina in a spectacular manner. There are wines to be proud of and wines I thoroughly enjoyed.

We started with the Torrontes, now thought of as the indigenous white grape of Argentina. It’s bright acidity was tempered with the vanilla essences present in Torrontes; a perfect wine for a hot summer’s day here in San Antonio. The red wine all had superior concentration and beautiful ruby to garnet colors. They were all beautifully balanced! The 2010 Malbec Classico is a perfect everyday wine and at a price point that can easily be enjoyed. The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva offered nice cigar box spice on the nose and flavors of plums, not overly ripe though, which is perfect. The 2010 Malbec Reserva was big and bold and the flavors came together in a way that no one flavor stood out, they all worked together in unison. The 2008 ORO Malbec was powerful. It had mushrooms and earth on the nose and a bold spice character, perfect for Argentine beef. My favorite, however, was the 2009 Plata. This wine has fineness and dark beauty that outshines all. It is bold, dark and supple with chewy tannins and dark fruits and cloves intertwined with a touch of wet earth. It is one of the few wines that, on first whiff, I felt tingling in the depths of my body. I don’t know of another way to describe it, but the feeling is AWESOME!!!!!

Zinc served a lamb burger that was a wonderful accompaniment to the Reserva Malbec and the Texas Chopped Salad with the tequila infused salmon, my favorite, was perfectly matched with the Torrontes. The Plata, however, was perfect on its own. Afterwards, Randy, one of the owners, invited us to explore his wine cellar. I was delighted to find such a treasure. This room was a perfect place to host anything, but bring a jacket if dining down there, it’s perfect cellar temperature, with wines stacked all along the walls.

The wines and the food were wonderful yesterday afternoon, even better than seven years ago. That could be because I had no children to worry about, or because I had had the pleasure to sample some spectacular wines from Argentina. The Gauchezco line is one to look for and at their price point, buy by the case!

You can read the wine descriptions on my wine ratings page.

CHEERS!