Argentina News and Truffles

I’d hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving! This week I’d just like to share a few news articles with you that I feel are relevant to our projects in Argentina. The first is a Reuters article that predicts a growth in Argentinean tax revenues as a direct result of a forthcoming increase in tourism, which you can read about here: Link (On a similar topic, Reuters also reports that AMEX is expecting credit card spending to increases at least 10% next year as consumer activity rebounds.) You may remember our announcement not too long ago about the possibility of Algodon Wine Estates cultivating truffles. In addition to our unique vineyard or orchard estate homesites available for private development, we would also plant truffles on estate homesites that are suitable for their cultivation. So, I’m pleased to share this recent media mention of our vineyard estate in Luxury Travel Magazine. The article is headlined: “Indulge in Rare Truffles at the World's Most Exclusive Hotels”, and interestingly enough, Algodon Wine Estates is the only hotel mentioned that will cultivate and harvest truffles for use on its own properties; just one more extraordinary element that sets us apart from the rest. Incidentally, CNN has terrific piece on a North Carolina entrepreneur who is the first person to harvest and sell French black truffles on American soil. It can be a lucrative undertaking if done right. Here’s one more great reason to learn Spanish: The "TED Conference" goes to Buenos Aires in April. Catch it if you can. --Scott Mathis

The Gold Medals Continue!

If you’ve been following my blog, then you know that just two weeks ago Algodon Wine Estates was presented the Global Award in Accommodation from Great Wine Capitals’ 2010 “BEST OF WINE TOURISM” competition. This award of course follows our trophies on the national level in Argentina from the same competition: the 2010 Gold Medal for Accommodation and the 2010 Silver Medal for Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences (for the 3rd year in a row). In addition to the remarkable abundance of unsolicited positive press, reviews and write-ups- the awards and Gold Medals have literally been stacking up. It was announced last week that our outstanding wines have won four more awards! At the 9th edition of VINANDINO, an international competition of wines and spirits, Algodon Wine Estates 2006 Bonarda won a Gold Medal, and our 2006 Malbec won a Silver Medal. This year’s competition included a total of 836 entrants from Germany, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, France, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Portugal and, of course, Argentina. The jury consisted of 35 international and 60 national experts. In an unrelated competition called CODEVIN, a San Rafael wine tasting event organized by local winemakers, Algodon Wine Estates 2009 Bonarda and 2008 Malbec, were rated to be among the top 15 wines in region, out of a total of 120 entrants. Congratulations to our winemaker Mauro Nosenzo and our Ambassador of Wine Camilo Aldao, as well as to all of our partners for the hard work they put in! Let’s all raise a glass of Algodon Wine Estates’ Gold Medal winning Bonarda, and toast to Algodon’s continued successes (and even more Gold Medals) in 2010 and beyond! --Scott Mathis

More Algodon in the media!

Algodon Mansion’s Rent the Mansion package is currently being promoted at Affluent Page Luxury Index. “Why share a hotel when you can have the whole thing?” they ask. From their website: Affluent Page Luxury Index is a luxury consumer magazine devoted to marketing luxury brands and upscale services. Published bi-monthly, the magazine is nationally distributed to readers, with a net worth of $10 Million and up.

Algodon Mansion also appears in the October issue of Argentina’s American Express Platinum Card Magazine, which goes out to over 22,000 platinum cardholders.

DPEC Partners also gets a nice independent write-up on investing in Argentina at Nuwireinvestor.com (I’m also interviewed in the article.)

We received more great news for Algodon Wines; our Sales & Marketing Coordinator at Algodon Wine Estates has done an excellent job getting our wines in some very important wine stores in Buenos Aires and beyond. Our label will now be available in “Wine Gallery” wine shop, located at 1780 Montevideo, in Recoleta. That’s just one block from Algodon Mansion. Algodon Wine can also be found at a “Wine Gallery” wine shop at 1811 Av. Cramer, in BA’s Belgrano neighborhood.

In the press last week; Food and Wine magazine announced their list of the best restaurants in Buenos Aires. Let’s get Algodon Mansion’s Chez Nous on this list next year! In sports news; with Del Potro’s Open win a few months back, the Los Angeles Times dubs Argentina the “Cradle of Tennis Stardom”! We always seem to be in the right place at the right time nowadays! Perhaps Algodon Wine Estates' Tennis Center will be the birthplace of talent for future Grand Slam Winners under the guidance and tutelage of, say for example, José Luis Clerc. Very exciting!

--Scott Mathis

2009 is a gold medal year for Algodon Wine Estates!

It’s a great day! As many of you know, after achieving Great Wine Capitals' prestigious 2010 Gold Medal (National Award) for Best Accommodation in early October of this year, our San Rafael wine estate qualified us to advance to the international award competition, which includes participants from eight major global cities in both the northern and southern hemispheres. These cities represent the "Old" and "New" worlds of wine, which (in addition to Mendoza) include Cape Town (South Africa), Florence (Italy), Mainz (Germany), Porto (Portugal), Bilbao-Rioja (Spain), San Francisco-Napa Valley (US), and Bordeaux (France), where this year's ceremony was held. On November 5, 2010 (last night), the international jury awarded the 2010 Global Winners at a distinguished gala dinner held at Château Giscours, Grand Cru Classé de Margaux in Bordeaux.

We are beside ourselves with excitement to relay that at last night’s ceremony ALGODON WINE ESTATES WAS ANNOUNCED THE 2010 GLOBAL WINNER in the Accommodation category for Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism award competition! This of course comes in addition to our (national level) Gold Medal in Accommodation and the (national level) Silver Medal for Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences, which we received for the 3rd year in a row!

Last year’s Global Winner in Accommodation was Château de Carbonneau in Bordeaux, France. For last year’s competition, 384 wineries and wine tourism businesses from the networked cities and their wine regions entered the “Best Of” awards contest. Annual winners retain the right to post plaques on their properties denoting the accolade, and their establishments appear in the following year's Great Wine Capitals Best Of Wine Tourism brochure; a 30-page booklet with listed summaries of winners and a description of their property with 20,000 copies distributed worldwide.

A BIG congratulations to our wonderful and very hardworking staff, without whom all we have is grapes and buildings! This is a tremendous accomplishment for our Algodon properties! Thank you to all who have made this possible, without your confidence and investment we could not have achieved this truly great honor. Have a great day!

Thanks, Scott Mathis