2002 Poesia

Bordeaux-based Helene Garcin-Leveque and Patrice Leveque, who were original partners in Clos de los Siete but opted to sell their share and establish their own venture a bit further north, own 13 prime acres of vines in the Major Drummond area of Lujan de Cuyo:half malbec planted in 1938 and half cabernet planted around 1970.This is a project that favors terroir over slick winemaking and marketing, and a true garage operation:wines are vinified in a rented facility not far from the vineyard, although the owners hope to build a winery in the near future.As with the Bordeaux wines that Garcin-Leveque oversees (Chateaux Clos L'Eglise, Haut Bergey, Branon and Barde Haut), the Argentine wines go through malolactic fermentation in barriques.Poesia is the estate's flagship wine, a 60/40 blend of malbec and cabernet done in all new oak, while Clos des Andes, 100% malbec, is aged in partly new and partly once-used barrels.With the consulting assistance of crack viticulturist Marcelo Casazza, a veteran of the region, the team has adopted black anti-hail nets, which, according to Casazza, delay the ripening a full week and help to keep alcohol levels reasonable.In fact, he can even remove leaves on the afternoon side, as the netting provides sufficient protection against sunburn."To get good malbec, you have to wait until the first day of autumn, March 31," noted Casazza."Otherwise you make herbaceous wines.And for cabernet sauvignon, the appropriate starting date is more like April 10."