Armed with a list of contacts from Joe Fattorini and a basic grasp of the Spanish language, I was ready get out of the city of Mendoza and visit some bodegas.

The first appointment in my increasingly busy diary was with Stephanie Morton Small, Commercial Director at Finca Decero, and fellow MW student with Joe, and if you hadn’t guessed from the double-barrelled surname, fellow Brit – so my Spanish skills (or lack thereof) wouldn’t be needed just yet…

Looking out on Decero with Stephanie and John

Posh but straight-talking Stephie, after very kindly picking us up at John’s house, gave us a quick tour of the customer-facing part of the place before she handed over to Marcos Fernandez, the winemaker so that we could ask him about the winery while she got some real work done. Decero, meaning ‘from scratch’ is an impressive project, using only fruit from the vineyard surrounding the bodega. Single vineyard wines are not all that common around here, with most bodegas sourcing their grapes from several sites, often from different subregions, with the concept that each site brings something different to the ‘assemblage.’ Great care was taken before anything was planted surveying the site and then matching up different varieties and clones of vines with different soils and microclimates within the vineyard. Using only their own fruit, they have greater control over what the vines produce, and they are very proud of their ‘amano’ (by hand) approach which again gives greater control over what is produced and then selected, to go into the crush during harvest.

John scoping out the Rolls Royce of all presses!

The Swiss investor behind this intricately thought out project has another winery in Napa in California, but with the explosion of Argentine wines, and the investment opportunity that the region has presented to investors – this was an opportunity to get everything right from the outset. So no expense has been spared on this project, with a state of the art winery combining with the more traditional labour-intensive viticultural practices resulting in wines that not only reflect the terroir, but also reflect the work that has gone into nurturing the vines.

It has been a big year for the Bodega, with the Decero label only just launched, and the visitor’s area finished only months ago. The vineyard had been selling some wines under a different name until last year, as well as selling off grapes to other producers. Apparently wanting to wait until the vines were mature enough, for their label to be launched, or at least that’s the story, maybe there are other marketing reasons too?

The wines:

Decero produces only reds from their site ‘high in the foothills of the Andes’ – which is a pretty classic description of vineyards in the Mendoza region! Although these are the nearest vines to the Andes until you get to the Uco valley further South.

There are Varietal expressions of each of the red grapes planted, as well as the flagship ‘Amano’ blend due for release very soon.

The Decero wines have a common feature of vibrant aromatics, and ripe appealing fruit, whilst keeping their own varietal characters.

Fresh on the market: Decero 'Amano' 2006, Decero Cabernet sauvignon 2006.

The 2006 Malbec had masses of plums and violets on the nose, along with well integrated oak. The palate had lovely ripe fruit, luxurious texture like a satin sofa with supple tannins giving round texture without grip and pleasingly warm mouthfeel leading to a finish with some meatiness creeping in at the end.

The two that we enjoyed the most (and the two that won Gold at the recent Hyatt wine awards) were the Cabernet Sauvignon, and the slightly higher priced Petit Verdot – although this would be a good chance to point out the exceedingly reasonable prices of these wines, the Malbec and Cabernet are going out at £9.99 and the Petit Verdot £12.99 distributed through Berkmann cellars, although I don’t know who’s selling them yet, as they are so new!

(STOP PRESS: The Amano was one of the highlights for me at the Hyatt wine awards in Mendoza, with more of the inviting aromatics seen in the varietal wines, but with even more depth and weight)