Forum del Vino

Last week I was at the Alvear Palace Hotel in Recoleta at a wine tasting. Recoleta is downtown Buenos Aires' best neighborhood; the Alvear Palace, the area's best hotel; and this was a top-end wine tasting. In other words, this was as good as it gets in Buenos Aires, which is very good indeed.

So what's new down here?

In a word: fruit.

Young wines are fruity, old wines are complex. Australian, Chilean, Spanish, and Argentine wines are fruity; Californian and French wines are complex. These days Australian and Chilean wines are taking over the worldwide markets, and Argentina wants to become a player. Wines from California and France are suddenly playing catch-up in a world with an oversupply of wine.

If you can dig one up, look at a menu from a top-end French or New York restaurant from the 1950s. You'll find a wine list that features ten- and fifteen-year-old wines. These days that wine list features wines from 2000.

Last month in Paris a friend served a 1964 St. Estephe from Bordeaux that made heaven seem just a step away. But in general we drink younger, fruitier wines. Argentina's sunny climate, fine soil, and long wine-making tradition insure that Argentina can compete in this market.

I've only been in Buenos Aires a couple of weeks, but it's clear the wine scene has changed considerably since Vicki and I lived here in the 1980s. The third annual Forum del Vino, held two weeks ago at the beautiful Palais de Glace in Recoleta, was one of the best-organized, most serious wine salons I've been to. It's worth making the trip to Buenos Aires for--put it on your calendar for next October. Organizer Andres Rosberg told me when he started the Forum del Vino in 2001 he was the only game in town; now it seems we have wine salons every week or so, especially this time of year.

The winner of this year's Forum del Vino was the 2002 Limited Edition malbec from Enrique Foster ($30 a bottle--I imagine all these Argentine wines would cost a lot more if you buy them abroad). A second choice is Enrique Foster's regular 2002 malbec, called Finca Castro Barros, for $15 a bottle. Enrique Foster would like us to age these wines a while, but they're so good now it would be a shame not to drink them. Enrique Foster also sells a Novus 2003 malbec for about $5.50 a bottle, a very drinkable daily wine, although without the oak that makes the other two so fine.

The problem with Enrique Foster wines is that they're hard to find. Enrique Foster, a Catalan New Yorker, founded his winery just two years ago. These are their first wines, and most will probably be shipped out to New York. If you're planning a trip to Buenos Aires or New York, ask Julian Gomez to send you a case.

Paul Terhorst
for International Living