Premium wines from Trivento in Mendoza

We recently had the occasion to taste a range of premium wines from Trivento in Mendoza, Argentina. The wines have just been launched in the “on special order only” range at the Swedish monopoly but our comments may be of interest also to other than our Swedish readers.

Trivento was created in 1996 and is today one of the five biggest exporters of wine from the Mendoza. They have 1289 hectares spread over several different vineyards. The vines are around 15 years old. The name Trivento means “three winds” and refers to the three winds that are frequent in Mendoza: the cold polar wind, the warm zonda, and the wind from the south-east called sudestada, that often brings with it storms and sometimes hail. “The winds are a challenge for us, but also a part of Mendoza”, says Maximiliano Ortiz, the winemaker.

Like many other in the Mendoza today Trivento are keen on finding new and better locations for their grapes. They are buying land in the Uko Valley and they will plant new vines to make new wines. 2005 was the first vintage of their premium cuvee Trivento Eolo, made from almost 100% malbec (there is also between 2 and 10% of syrah). The grapes grow in stony soil but in a well protected area close to the Mendoza river. The vines were planted in 1912! Therefore the yield is low and they give a concentrated wine. The 2007 is very good, with good yet elegant structure; a touch of oak; ripe, dark berries, and a fresh acidity. It a wine to drink with food. It has been aged in French oak barrels in their brand new winery cellar, inaugurated in 2008. They have 4200 oak barrels, 60% of which are French, the rest being American. “The American oak gives more sweetness and softness to the wine”, says Maximiliano. “The French oak gives more elegance, but the wine needs to stay longer in the barrel.” They are doing test with aging the same wine in both types of barrels to see what works best.

They have also been successful at Trivento with torrontes, chardonnay and syrah. A favourite of ours is Trivento Golden Reserve Syrah 2007 made from grapes coming from the Uko Valley. The wine has a good syrah style with quite a lot of black pepper in the finish and a very good an generous fruit, and just the right amount of tannins. Also delicious is the Trivento Amado Sur Torrontes made from 75% torrontes, 15% viognier, and 10% chardonnay. Maximiliano Ortiz, the winemaker, likes the combination of viognier and torrontes: “Viognier adds aromas of apricot and peaches to the flowery style of torrontes.”

Related articles

• Trivento Torrontes Reserve 2009. (whywineblog.com)
• Extreme Wine: A Certain Idea of Malbec (wineeconomist.com)
• Wine Country - Mendoza, Argentina (travelpod.com)