Belasco de Baquedano

One of the province’s most interesting new wineries is called Belasco de Baquedano. Here you’ll find a long, scarlet hallway known as the Aroma Room. 48 perspex stands line the walls, each emitting its own distinctive odor from an oil capsule when you flip a lever. Butter, geranium, game and musk are just some of the olfactory delights.

Belasco is a state-of-the-art facility built in Mendoza’s finest vineyard zone Agrelo, a sub-region of Lujan de Cuyo. The winery is surrounded by 70 hectares of 100-year old vines in what is regarded as one of the best areas for Malbec, a source of grapes that is the envy of many a winemaker.

The handsome palladium style winery has a dramatic backdrop of ice-capped Andean peaks. Inside there are red-lacquered concrete floors and glistening steel tanks. No expense was spared as regards using the latest technology such as mechanical steam barrel washers and refrigerated grape chambers. The stark, minimalist design is especially interesting to the wine tourist as it leads to an all glass tasting room upstairs and a light-filled eatery known as the Navarra restaurant that do special five-course lunches designed around the wine. It is fast becoming the place for a winery lunch in Mendoza. The restaurant’s name refers to the region in Spain where the owners emanate from and own 4 other wineries.

Their Argentine operation has wasted no time winning accolades with Parker himself awarding the Swinto label 90 points. The Malbec-only labels are rich inky creations that show fruit to the fact that only 1.5 tonnes of grapes is squeezed out of each acre. The consultant is none other then Bertrand Bourdil, one of only two winemakers in the world that can boast three wines with a perfect 100 point pedigree. Could he possibly be the first to achieve this with Malbec?