Art Selected for Algodon Mansion

Just a quick update on the mansion.  As you can see from the photo, this is an example of some of the art that will be displayed in the hotel.  The photo shows the wall of the main dining room of Chez Nous.  Our goal is to highlight art only from distinguished Argentine artists and photographers.  Each piece we’ve meticulously chosen complements the design aspects of the hotel itself.

Below, you’ll see a photo of the newly installed fireplace on the outside patio of Chez Nous.  It’s very stylish and- with the patio’s glass ceiling- I think the nighttime dining experience under the stars might be very romantic, and very elegant.

-Scott Mathis

Grass Courts!

Wow!  The grass courts at Algodon Wine Estates & Champions Club are really looking great!  After its first season of growing, our new grass courts are finally looking like “grass” courts.   There are two different types of grass planted here.  The strategy is that one of the grass types grows well in the summer, while the other hibernates…and vice versa.  That way there will always be healthy grass growing.  Currently, tennis lovers can play on our new clay courts, but the grass court lovers will still have to wait.  In a few more months these courts should be ready for their inauguration, and you can be sure that we’ll have an official tournament to start things off.  In fact we already have two tennis events scheduled, which you can read more about here, both featuring José Luis Clerc.  We believe these events will bring in many visitors to Algodon Wine Estates & Champions Club in the coming season, and we hope that these visitors will love the estate (how could they not?!) and frequent our Algodon Properties, potentially buy our real estate and our wines and - in doing so - propagate the Algodon brand itself.  Tennis anyone?

-Scott L. Mathis

Algodon 2008 Bonarda is the Champion!

Algodon 2008 Bonarda won the Double Gold and the (Bonarda) Category Champion at the International Wine & Spirits Competition VINUS 2010!  We won five awards in all- our other winners were our 2008 Gran Reserva -Double Gold, 2008 Malbec -Gold Medal, and our 2009 Semillón -Silver Medal.  Congratulations to our winemakers and our partners!  Great work!

We were recently interviewed for a travel radio program “Travel with Stephanie Abrams”, where we discussed Algodon Wine Estates.  Stephanie Abrams is a nationally syndicated radio travel talk show host and media resource for travel-related issues, and is recognized as an expert in the travel industry.  She’s been named to "Travel Agent Magazine's" list of the "100 Most Powerful Women in Travel."  You can listen to the interview here if you’re interested.  

- Scott Mathis

Algodon Wine Tasting at the Argentine Consulate General

I’m very happy to say that our recent Algodon Wine tasting at the Argentine Consulate General here in New York City went very well.  This was an opportunity for members of the press, as well as some of our clients to taste our new 2008 and 2009 wines, and to meet our winemakers in person.  We were very fortunate that our winemaker Mauro Nosenzo, and wine consultant Marcelo Pelleriti could join us all the way from Mendoza.  We were also happy to have our Director of Project Development, Tourism & Hospitality, Diego Coll Benegas, as well as our Executive Chef from Algodon Wine Estates, Gastón Langlois join us as well.

In addition to our winemakers, we were honored to see Alejandro Bertolo, Consul General of Argentina there, as well as Ines Segarra, New York’s Director of Argentina tourism office.

All in all, it was a terrific evening!

-Scott Mathis

European Wine Fair at ExCeL London

Here’s a new YouTube video posted recently, which showcases Algodon Wine Estates.  The video features various shots of the estate including the vineyards, the surrounding mountains, and the winery.

This week, Anthony Foster, our esteemed Master of Wine, and Fernando Coelho, Algodon Wine’s Sales & Marketing Coordinator, attended the 2010 London International Wine Fair where they introduced our 2008-2009 wine list.  The event is lauded as one of the most important industry events on the international wine and spirits calendar as it brings together Europe's importers, merchants, producers, agents, restaurateurs, wholesalers, and sommeliers under a single venue.  Antony tells me there seems to be great interest in our Malbec and Bonarda! 

Under the invaluable guidance of oenologist Marcelo Pelleriti (whose own wines have won ratings on the Parker scale of up to 98 points), select vintages from this year’s Algodon Wine list will retail for the highest they ever have as a result of their superb quality.  We’re all very excited about the evolution of our wines, and I am personally very proud of everyone at Algodon Wine Estates who have worked so hard to maintain- and even advance -our high standards.  Thanks everyone, great work!

-Scott Mathis

Tennis & Golf!

Have a look at this Google Maps snapshot of Algodon Wine Estates new Tennis Courts!   In the photo, you can clearly make out our 7 new clay courts, the blue and green hard court, and just to the left of that is the area where the 2 grass courts will be (though when the photo was taken, it appears the grass hadn’t started growing yet.)  All of those little green dots surrounding the courts are olive trees from the half century old olive orchard.  The black roof of the building in the middle is the Clubhouse.

This next photo shows the growth of our new back nine holes on the golf course.  Like the grass court, these are still growing in of course.  But they already look amazing.  The cleared rectangular space on the left is where our future polo fields will eventually go.  And at the very bottom, you can clearly see the estate’s newest water reservoirs, which appear black in the photo.

You can visit Google Maps yourself and explore the estate at this address:  Link

-Scott Mathis

Argentina Wine Awards, 2010

Some of our newest wines (which haven’t hit the shelves yet) were recently submitted to a tasting competition called the Argentina Wine Awards, hosted by Wines of Argentina.  I am proud to say that four out of the five of the vintages we entered took home awards!  In all, we won 2 silvers (for our 2009 Semillón, and our 2008 Malbec), and 2 Bronzes (for our 2009 Chardonnay, and our 2008 Bonarda).   You may remember that we took home a few medals from last year’s awards as well.

 

Congratulations to our Wine Panel and our oenologists!  Keep up the great work!