First taste: Bemberg 2023 new releases

Daniel Pi needs little introduction for anyone tapped into the wine scene of Argentina. For over 30 years he was at the helm of Grupo Peñaflor, Argentina’s largest wine producer. He has pioneered innovations in winemaking as well as putting new wine regions on the map, ranging from the heights of Catamarca’s Andes mountains to the chilly coastline of Chapadmalal near Buenos Aires. Tireless in his quest to explore and experiment, he is well respected among his peers in Argentina for his humble manner of doing so.

Since the pandemic, however, Pi decided to take leave of Peñaflor, prioritising time with his family and friends. ‘During the pandemic I realised that life is short,’ he confides, ‘and you have to take advantage of your time — it is the most precious thing you have.’ Today he is focused on his own family winery, Tres 14 (a play on pi, 3.14), which he started with his daughter.

But rather than leave Peñaflor completely, Pi agreed to continue on with one sole winery… a brand he built from its inception, in a rather serendipitous way.

Large and small

‘During my 30 years there were many changes in the group,’ Pi explains, looking back at his career. ‘The latest was when the Bemberg family bought Peñaflor in 2010.’ The Bemberg family is known for founding Quilmes – the largest brewery in Argentina – but had not previously been directly involved in Argentinian wine. After the sale, practically overnight, the Bembergs became the family with the most land under vine in Argentina — with an eye-watering 3,700ha of vines today.

‘In 2011 I started to show them effectively what they had bought,’ explains Pi. ‘But I wanted to show them something real rather than just figures… So I started making wines for them to share with family and friends, from the very best parcels of vines that they had.’

Pi had already been identifying the top plots of vines within all of the family’s different territories while working with the brands of Peñaflor. So he began setting aside certain microvinifications to make a collection for the family to get to know the wines of Argentina — and, more importantly, their wines of Argentina. ‘Peñaflor has vineyards from Salta in the north to Patagonia in the south… I made these wines as an imaginary tour through Argentina, using wine as the vehicle,’ he explains.

Pi’s magical wine tour for the family soon became its own diversion. The wines became the pride of the family, and by 2017 they decided to build their own separate family winery and sell the wines to more than just family and friends. Bemberg Family Wines was born. The mandate continued to be to show the best parcels of the family’s vast landholdings, but also to make wines that would stand with the best of the world — and therefore, wines that could age.

Built to last

Pi was one of the first winemakers to push single-vineyard wines in Argentina over 20 years ago, under Trapiche’s Grower Series (now called the Terroir Series).

Today there are many wineries that take you on a terroir tour of Argentina via Malbec. However, while Bemberg Family Wines also offers a convincing terroir tour, what makes Bemberg quite radical is the approach to ageing.

The new release is 2016… There aren’t many wine producers today – either in the New World or the Old — that hold their wines for seven years before release. Indeed all seven of the red wines on new release are the 2016 vintage, while the Chardonnay is 2018.

‘From the beginning, the family and I said that we had to make wines that were already bottle-aged, and capable of long future ageing too,’ says Pi. ‘It was a challenge at first, because I had to think about how the wines would be enjoyed after a few years, and I am also thinking about wines that can cellar for at least another 30 years. That’s the goal,’ he adds.

The wines of Bemberg show Pi’s quiet confidence; indeed these wines are in many ways the epitome of his winemaking experience over the past 30 years. Within the range we also see some of the terroirs that are particularly close to his heart.

Terroir tour

Pi is known for rejuvenating the fortunes of the underdog region of San Juan and his Malbec from Pedernal is nothing short of breathtaking: energetic, tense and succulent. Meanwhile the Malbec from the Chañar Punco vineyard, located at 2,000m altitude – a site he planted in 1998 – is wild and heady, reflective of the altitude and untamed landscape in Catamarca.

One of the standout wines from the new releases is from the north of Argentina: the old-vine Cabernet Sauvignon from Cafayate where Pi worked for many years with El Esteco.

After decades of trying to restrain the intense character of the Cabernet there, which is distinctively peppery and spicy, Pi finally gave in. Instead he came to appreciate that this is the way the terroir and these old vines express themselves. It is perhaps a ‘Marmite wine’ – people will love it or hate it – but for me it holds its head high with bold and vibrant flair.

In the Uco Valley, in particular, we see Pi’s deep exploration of Gualtallary, for both Malbec and Chardonnay, in the relatively new vineyard he planted where the Bemberg winery is built. Incidentally, Pi – an amateur architect – helped to design the winery, which is filled with a playground of winemaking vessels inside, but boasts a sleek and timeless design on the outside.

Pionero blend

Pionero is the top wine of the portfolio and made in tribute to Otto Bemberg, the first generation of the family that moved to Argentina in the 1850s. ‘I was studying what people were drinking in Argentina at that time, to imagine what Otto Bemberg would have drunk,’ explains Pi. ‘Did you know that Argentina was the second-biggest importer of Bordeaux after the UK in the 1860s?’

The wine is therefore his ode to the Right Bank wines of Bordeaux that Argentinians would have been drinking back then – most certainly with a significant amount of Malbec in the blend (before Malbec was replanted with Merlot). It currently feels so youthful that there’s doubt in my mind it will cellar well for another 30 years or more. It is an impressive, classy and subtle blend that will take time to unveil its full character — just as Pi had intended.

Daniel Pi might have started taking more time for himself since the pandemic, but he certainly hasn’t slowed down.

Bemberg: new releases tasted & rated

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