Upcoming Events: Bodegas Contador and Wines of South America!

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Be sure to check out our upcoming events!

March 9th at 6pm$75/person

Join us and Raul Moreno Yague, who is the educational manager for Bodega Contador.  Bodega Contador began in 1995 when Benjamin Romeo, winemaker and grower, acquired a centuries-old cave carved into the rock beneath the Castle of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, located at the foot of the Sierra Cantabria mountain range in La Rioja Alta, west of Rioja Álava. In 1996, Benjamin made the first vintage of his “La Cueva del Contador” wine and started to buy vineyards for his plan to become a “bodeguero”—a wine producer. Benjamin was the winemaker at Aratadi from 1985 to 2000, where he was able to apply his skill and continue to hone his craft. In 1999, he made the first vintage of “Contador” from vineyards he acquired.

In 2000, after seeing these first wines favorably received by the market and press, Benjamin dedicated himself full time to his personal project. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate awarded 100 points to the 2004 and 2005 vintages of Contador made in his parents’ garage.

In collaboration with the architect Hector Herrera, Benjamin designed and opened a new winery in June 2008, to coincide with the summer solstice. The three floors or terraces mirror the original slopes of the site where it is located, enabling both fruit and wine to be moved by gravity.

The Lineup:

Bodegas Contador 'Predicador' Rioja Blanco 2020Bodegas Contador 'Predicador' Rioja 2019Bodegas Contador 'La Cueva de Contador' 2019Bodegas Contador 'Contador' Rioja 2019

Wines of South America

Join us for a South American wine tasting on March 23rd @ 6pm, as we pour wines coming from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Three producers, five awesome wines! $30/person.

Matías Riccitelli started his boutique winery in 2009, located in Las Compuertas at 1100 meters above sea level. It is the highest area of Lujan de Cuyo, and here he tends 20 hectares of ungrafted old vineyards. Matías also works with small, independent growers that own their lands at the bottom of the Andes halfway between 1000 and 1700 meters above sea level – in Gualtallary, Chacayes, Altamira and La Carrera. All harvests are conducted by hand and fermentation takes place in small concrete vats and concrete eggs. Purity and delicacy in winemaking are prized by Matías and great care is taken in preserving the fruit’s singularity in order to obtain vibrant wines. In 2015 a new project was begun: old vineyards of Semillon, Merlot and Malbec were discovered and reclaimed in Argentinian Patagonia. The vineyards are located in the Rio Negro high valley and were planted in the late 1960’s. The resulting wines are fresh, intensely aromatic and highly balanced.

Laurent Family Vineyard is a Chilean wine estate by organic/biodynamic Bordeaux winemaker Gerard Laurent of Chateau L'Escart. He spent 12 years together with his wife Lorena in Bordeaux and eventually wanted to search for a terroir to express their passion for winegrowing. They moved to Maipo Valley after being attracted by the beauty of the landscape. The first vineyard was planted in 2008 and in 2011 they designed their winery. All of the grapes are grown organically on riverbed soils of alluvial clay loam.

Alto de la Ballena is a small winery that defined new directions in Uruguayan viticulture, starting its plantations in 2001. Nestled in the Sierra de la Ballena, 15 kilometers from the coast, it combines ocean airs and mountain soils. They are just over 8 hectares of Merlot, Tannat, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Viognier, for a limited production of high quality wines.