Sep-Oct 2011 | Newsletter

DEAR WINE AND VINEYARD FRIENDS,

The end of July bought the heaviest snowfall that San Rafael has seen for 35 years. A rainy Friday turned to snow during the freezing cold night and on Saturday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. The snow continued until Sunday morning when the skies cleared and the sun shone down on the fresh, crisp snow. This was a completely new experience for our two Labradors “Nanook” and “Canaima” and they loved it. We joined in their fun and games but had no chance of keeping up with their leaps and frolics in the deep snow.

It is safe to say that winter arrived in full force that week but as I am writing this newsletter I am sitting in glorious sunshine with the temperature topping out at 22C (72F). This further demonstrates that Argentina’s wine region, Mendoza, has the perfect climate for vines and grape cultivation.

News from the Winery:

Our 2010 Bonarda is spending the 15th month maturing in the barrels but still has some time to go before it is ready for bottling. The 2011 wine is still expected to be the best vintage we have produced so far.

News from the Vineyard:

Despite the heavy snowfall, we are still making very good progress in the vineyards. We hired a large bulldozer, which took several days to dredge the new irrigation canals for our Estate owners. While we had the heavy machinery on site we made good use of it to demolish the old house on the site of the new tasting room to prepare the area for construction.
We are currently negotiating a contract for a 1 million liter retention pond, which is for the purpose of allowing us much better control of our night time irrigation water. This will not only have a positive effect on our watering schedules but will also be good for the environment and contribute towards the preservation of drinking water.

News from the Wine Estates:

Work on the “Owners Entrance” portal has begun! The walls are in place and we have selected a black slate to cover the brick construction for a very elegant design. A wooden sign – “Gavilan Wine Estates” will complete the look and will be placed on the larger wall to the left. The sign makers are finishing up the sign these days.
We have created new water feeder canals to replace the original canal that is no longer in use. Although many of these improvements are not visible they will have a very positive impact on the Estates.

General:

In an effort to make our website more comprehensive and informative we are working on a completely new design. We have changed servers during this process and the link to the “MAKE YOUR OWN WINE” page has changed: http://gavilanvineyards.com/owners/GavilanVineyards_Making-your-own-Wine.pdf

For ease of reference we have also added a pdf file giving the investment requirements as well as potential profits. This will provide a clear understanding as to why the largest wineries in the world are buying up Argentina’s vineyards for their investment portfolios. For this link just go here: http://www.gavilanvineyards.com/Gavilan_Investors_Package.pdf

Fun Facts:

OK, this month not so much “fun” as interesting. Argentina is an oil producing country and just a few miles outside of San Rafael you can see the oil pumps raising crude oil from the foothills of the Andes. One of the State owned refineries is located in Lujan de Cuyo, which is located about 200 kilometers north of San Rafael and 30 kilometers south of Mendoza city.
Despite the local oil production, it is becoming a frequent event to see the nearby government owned gas stations running out of gas or diesel. This is somewhat reminiscent of the gas shortages in the 1970’s. As a result it is not an uncommon sight to see lines of trucks sitting idle at the gas station for the whole day waiting for the delivery truck to show up so they can fill up their tanks and make it through the desert.

Of course there is always a plentiful supply at the Esso and Gas stations in town, but there, the price of a liter is a few cents more, just like anywhere else in the world. So, losing a whole day idle at the gas station seems to be a better option than paying a little more at the non-government owned facilities. Go figure!