For 25 years, Cheval Blanc – considered one of Saint-Emilion’s main names – has been crafting wine in Argentina. We sat down with Pierre-Olivier Clouet to seek out out extra concerning the challenge right now, and why the 2021 classic is probably the most thrilling thus far
This yr sees the discharge of the 20th classic of Cheval des Andes – Cheval Blanc’s operation in Mendoza. For the reason that workforce from the legendary Saint-Emilion property launched into the enterprise with Terrazas de los Andes, 25 years in the past, a lot has modified – and that is the beginning of a brand new period for the property. What was as soon as a working idea has taken root.
“That is the start of our grownup life,” says Technical Director Pierre-Olivier Clouet. “We’ve got an actual identification right now.” It’s taken a quarter-century for the property to shake off the uncertainty of youth and discover agency footing – one thing that hasn’t essentially been straightforward.
“We made errors,” Clouet confesses. Not having a historic popularity to depend on, the workforce at Cheval des Andes had sought out excessive scores, chasing factors to show their value. However, in a nonetheless Parker-dominant period, that meant making wines with “ripe grapes, numerous extraction, a excessive degree of alcohol – you [had] to point out the muscle to clarify that you’re a nice wine”, explains Clouet. “For a very long time, the recipe was within the cellar; no person cared the place the vines had been.” Now, nonetheless, that’s all modified.
The technical workforce tasting at Cheval des Andes: Pierre-Olivier Clouet, Gérald Gabillet and Pierre Lurton (left to proper)
From 2011, the workforce began shifting focus to the winery, working extra carefully with their French counterparts and vice-versa. The arrival of Lorenzo Pasquini (now the person on the helm of Ch. d’Yquem) in 2015 was key to the transition, as Cheval des Andes began to deal with a shared imaginative and prescient of fantastic wine – one that’s about freshness, steadiness and ageing potential, and one which defines Cheval Blanc.
Solely with a number of incorrect turns, nonetheless, are you able to be certain you’re on the appropriate path – and Clouet is evident that these first 16 years, determining what Cheval des Andes ought to and could possibly be, has been “tremendous vital” in serving to them construct “one thing with actual sincerity, actual authenticity”. Most significantly, Cheval des Andes will not be meant to be, neither is a replica of Cheval Blanc: “It’s, in our thoughts, completely an Argentine wine,” says Clouet.
The unique 31-hectare winery is in Las Compuertas in Luján de Cuyo, a subregion of Mendoza. It’s on these clay-dominant soils at round 1,000 metres’ altitude that Pierre Lurton found a plot of ungrafted Malbec in 1998. Planted in 1929, the vine materials pre-dates phylloxera, descended from a variety imported to Argentina in 1852 – again when the grape dominated Bordeaux. This choice is essential to the DNA of Cheval des Andes and, together with the large diurnal shift, produces Malbec that’s recent, exact, perfumed and delicately structured. For Clouet, the “true” Malbec is nearer to Pinot Noir in model – extra floral than fruit-led, vibrant and even ethereal.
The Andes towering behind the vines at Cheval des Andes
In 2001, the workforce bought a further parcel in La Consulta within the Uco Valley, at increased altitude and with extra gravel-driven soils, a cooler website that has an much more important diurnal swing in temperature. Whereas they as soon as might need used solely a fraction of the property to supply the flagship wine, they’ve moved to utilizing as a lot as they’ll – to create a pure expression of the complete property, declassifying solely plots that don’t match within the mix or meet their stringent high quality requirements.
All 50 hectares are farmed with the identical philosophy as their vines in Saint-Emilion – using in depth cowl crops, bushes scattered all through the winery, and with the identical unimaginable consideration to element and deal with sustainability. “We work with the identical imaginative and prescient and the identical conviction,” says Clouet. One key distinction, in fact, is that irrigation is important on this a part of Argentina – however, right here once more, they’ve modified tack over the past decade or so. Slightly than conventional fashionable drip irrigation the place mandatory water could be eked out drop by drop over the season as wanted (“too synthetic”, Clouet tells me), they irrigate extensively over the winter to make sure the soils are replenished absolutely between seasons (in addition to assist defend ungrafted vines in opposition to phylloxera), then – on a plot by plot foundation – when the vines are beginning to endure, they offer the vines round 40mm of water (nonetheless by way of drip irrigation), over 24-48 hours, replicating a day or two of regular rainfall.
They’ve decreased the peak of the cover (the engine of the vine for sugar manufacturing), whereas utilizing bushes, cowl crops and minimal leaf-pulling to keep away from sunburn. They’ve began pruning every vine in response to its vigour, and at the moment are choosing considerably earlier – as a lot as two months sooner than 15 years in the past. With this element within the winery, the problem is solely to information the fruit by way of the vineyard: “No errors is sufficient within the cellar,” says Clouet.
Lush cowl crops, bushes and gardens are integral to the philosophy at Cheval des Andes
In some methods, the wine echoes Cheval Blanc. Whereas the Saint-Emilion property blends Cabernet Franc and Merlot, Cheval des Andes focuses on Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon – the Malbec bringing freshness and silkiness that enhances the spine of highly effective Cabernet. And the Cheval Blanc model, considered one of restraint and precision, shines by way of in latest vintages of the wine – and particularly the soon-to-be-released 2021. As Clouet tells me, “Our imaginative and prescient is completely delicacy, freshness, steadiness, ageing potential, complexity.” In contrast to Cheval Blanc, nonetheless, which wants 10 years in bottle to start out even hinting at its potential, Cheval des Andes gives an immediacy – one thing that Clouet is evident doesn’t inhibit its means to final; the 2021, for instance, may be drunk now, however will evolve over the following 25 years at the least, he tells me.
Even the affiliation with the Cheval Blanc identify doesn’t make Cheval des Andes a straightforward promote to fantastic wine lovers; however that, says Clouet, is a part of what makes it enjoyable – a problem for the workforce to be pushed. Even higher, his workforce will get the possibility to be taught and make wine not simply every year, however twice, in addition to gaining further perception on how Cheval Blanc may adapt to local weather change. However Cheval des Andes isn’t simply an mental train (that’s merely an added bonus), Clouet firmly believes within the potential of this website – one thing they’re now lastly starting to grasp.
The 2021 classic of Cheval des Andes can be launched on third September
– Written by Sophie Thorpe
