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

1st Wine Barrel Program Shipment!

This week I’d like to share some photos related to our personalized wine barrel program. The following pictures are from our partnered winery, Bombal & Aldao, where much of our wine is barreled. The personalize vintages of our first wine barrel program (from our 2007-2008 harvest) have officially been sent to barrel owners, who will be receiving their bottles soon. The above photo is of several barrels assigned to, and labeled with the name of, individual barrel owners. Each barrel contains the custom blend or varietal of each individual’s choosing. The next photo gives you an idea of what our cellar looks like. The following photo shows the custom hand-labeling of our barrel program’s bottles. Each label is customized to the specifications of the barrel owner, including their name, design, and any description or text they might want to appear. As a barrel owner myself, I’m personally looking forward to receiving my “Mathis Estates” bottles any day now! Our bi monthly newsletter is due out soon, and it’s packed full of Algodon Property updates. You’ll be very pleased with Gerhard Heusch’s new rendering of the Grand Center Court for Algodon Wine Estates’ tennis center. The one time dream of hosting Mendoza’s top tennis tournament, The Algodon Malbec Classic, is slowly turning into a reality. Look for our latest online issue of The Algodon next week! --Scott Mathis

Algodon in the Media, del Potro, and More…

Algodon Mansion gets a nice mention in this month’s Delta Sky Magazine! The write-up acknowledges our restaurant, menu, and accompanying estate-grown Malbec. Although, the restaurant details are a bit outdated…we’re happy to have made an appearance. Delta Sky Magazine reaches 5 million readers each month! Algodon Wine Estates is also featured in Area 3 Magazine, a widely distributed publication in Mendoza. The article, which discusses our newly established international wine panel, is unfortunately not online yet- but I’ll be sure to share it with you once it’s up. In the meantime, here’s a scanned photo from the magazine’s hardcopy.

Score another one for the Argentines! Juan Martin del Potro’s U.S. Open win was a surprise to us all, but I’m not complaining! Argentina is everywhere is sports news these days, and that only means good things for Algodon Wine Estates & Champions’ Club! Our new tennis courts and newly expanded 18-hole golf course are literally weeks away from being ready to play. I wonder how del Potro feels about San Rafael, perhaps we’ll see him at Argentina’s first Algodon Malbec Classic!…In other sports news, Argentina’s Rugby team, Los Pumas, have been invited to join the Southern Hemisphere’s Tri Nations. If everything goes according to the plan, Tri Nations will become “Four Nations” in 2012. While we haven’t any immediate plans to construct a Rugby field at Algodon Wine Estates, you never know what the future holds…2016 perhaps?

Our Executive VP & CFO is in Buenos Aires this week and sent the following email to us soon after his arrival: “I only had a couple of minutes today to see the Mansion, but WOW – it’s a MANSION - it just looks fantastic. A person working on every corner, and the progress is enormous. The stairs are in and some of the rooms are basically finished (without furniture). The kitchen crew is working in the kitchen and the light-well is truly the “show-off” center piece. No doubt we still have a lot of work ahead, but things look great. The master suite bathrooms are enormous and the quality is 100%.” He also sent us some new photo updates from Algodon Wine Estates, including this one of the tennis courts, which by the way are looking tremendous. Thanks for the update, Tim!

-- Scott Mathis

Manhattan Crush Fest!

Our Mendoza Crush Fest event that took place at City Winery went very well. The place was packed with over 700 attendees. Wow. Over 30 wineries participated, but Algodon Wine was the star attraction and was a big hit I’m told. The fact that New York Magazine and DailyCandy.com both plugged our event (here and here), I’m sure had a major impact on ticket sales. Even Cindy Adams, the New York Post’s gossip columnist, gave Algodon Wine Estates a mention in her column for the event. (She also visited Algodon Mansion recently for a preopening tour of the property, and I hear she loves the project…) In case you missed our New York event, it was a very special occasion as we’d shipped over six tons of our grapes to Manhattan in order to be pressed into wine right here in our city. The all-day celebration included a feast of Argentine food and music, dancing, Algodon Wine, and many of our friends and industry associates. I also discovered this blog called WinedAndDined.com which mentions the event, our wine, and our San Rafael estate- all in one entry. Sounds like they had a good time too. Here we are in WhereToGoNext.com- and as of today’s post, media coverage for this truly unique event is still trailing in.

In today’s news, The Wall Street Journal reports that “Argentine bonds posted solid gains Tuesday on improving prospects for emerging market debt, while bank shares surged on the bond gains.”

In other news, Reuters is reporting that President Cristina Fernandez announced Argentina's economy will grow again in 2009. I like her confidence. Incidentally, Argentina’s economy was one of the fastest growing in the world for the past several years up until our global recession.

Also in Reuter’s (Reuters Life!), it’s mentioned that Forbes.com lists Mendoza once again as a “Top 10” travel pick. Apparently we’re in the right place at the right time.

--Scott Mathis

More Mendoza in the News

An excellent article that appears on FinancialTimes.com was forwarded to me last week. It’s titled “On the roof of the wine-growing world” and it’s a great read that praises Mendoza. The author’s enthusiasm strikes me as that of someone having just discovered the beauty of Mendoza for the first time. Another great article at Todaysfinancialnews.com discusses Mendoza’s draw to the retiree. The Washington Post talks about Argentine wine sales in U.S. restaurants (given our economy, and patrons looking for quality valued wine options) quoting one restaurant owner as saying; "We're selling the hell out of Mendoza". You can read that one here. And finally, it was announced that the world famous Dakar rally will return to Mendoza in 2010. The race will begin and end in Buenos Aires, and although I don’t think the exact route has officially been announced yet, I’ve heard that it will not only navigate through San Rafael once again – but it will go right by our property.

--Scott Mathis

Malbec & Buenos Aires Restaurants

Two articles that I recently stumbled across are worth pointing out. Once again we see praise for Mendoza and its signature grape, Malbec. The first piece comes from the Guardian.co.uk - it’s more of an editorial- titled Argentina is giving malbec a good name. The other appeared in the Chicago Tribune, and is titled Malbec’s star turn.

In another article from the not too distant past, The Washington Post did a feature on an American expat now living in Buenos Aries, Layne Mosler. She’s a freelance food writer and columnist for South American Explorer and a regular contributor to Time Out Buenos Aires. Here’s her unique angle: She’ll hop in a Buenos Aires cab, ask the driver to drop her off at his (the driver’s) favorite restaurant, and then she’ll eat there and write a review of it. She considers this the best way to learn about all of the hidden, great places to eat in the Argentine capital. If you’re visiting Buenos Aries and looking for an insider’s scoop on where to eat, check out her blog at www.taxigourmet.com. It’s very interesting.

--Scott Mathis

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone and your families had a great New Year’s Eve! 2009 is setting up to be a spectacular year already. Algodon Mansion is opening, we have new wines and labels, the opening of our 18 hole golf course, a future polo field…and the year has barely even started. Let's get busy, and stay busy! Happy New Year! By the way, I received an email from a colleague vacationing at Algodon Wine Estates over the holiday, which I’d like to include a passage from; “Scott, I am here in AWE – so beautiful! Today there were quite a few golfers, people eating in the restaurant, taking tours of the winery etc. I am doing the Ruta del Vino & checking out Mendoza tomorrow…” That was a good email to get, and a nice way to start the year. Have a great 2009! -Scott Mathis

Algodon Wine - Recent Praise

Great news, folks! Our Director of Project Development, Tourism & Hospitality at Algodon Wine Estates, Diego Coll Benegas, has informed us that our Cabernet Sauvignon has scored high at an American Master Sommelier wine tasting- with an 8 out of 10 rating! Our Cabernet also won the distinction of “Best Buy” of all the wines participating. We feel truly honored because the wineries we were competing against are absolutely some of the best wineries in all Argentina. The wine tasting event was hosted by Wines of Argentina. While on the subject, I also want to mention that our wine was chosen to be featured at the 2008 Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Awards here in Manhattan in Jan ’09. This annual award ceremony is conducted by Wine Enthusiast magazine to recognize excellence in the crafting, marketing and distribution of wine and spirits worldwide. This year, Mendoza won for “Wine Region of the Year.” The ceremony planners asked 25 wineries to submit their wines to represent Mendoza at the event, and Algodon Wine Estates was one of ten selected. There are over 1,000 wineries in Mendoza…so again, quite an honor. I think things are looking pretty good for us.

Governor's Lunch at Algodon Wine Estates

I had lunch with the Governor of the Mendoza Province! It was pretty exciting, and dining with a major elected official really puts things into perspective in terms of the size and scope of our project, as well as its impact on the local economy and tourism trade. Governor Celso Jaque visited Algodon Wine Estates with the Superintendent (what we’d call the mayor) of San Rafael, Omar Félix, and they received the grand tour. We had a fine time, ate some great food at the restaurant, and we received many compliments! The Governor was really impressed with our project’s development, and was particularly enthused by the opportunities for the creation of jobs for San Rafael residents. He also made a point of expressing his enthusiasm for Algodon Wine Estates’ significant economic and cultural benefits for the entire province!

Pure & Untouched

Mendoza is truly an extraordinary place. You may sometimes hear it referred to as the “Napa Valley” of Argentina. Though I have a feeling that this common analogy will prove to be short lived, as Mendoza continues to make a name for itself, and more and more people begin to recognize it as its own thriving entity worthy of world-wide attention. Mendoza is responsible for more than 70% of the country's wine production, an impressive number when considering that Argentina is the 5th largest producer of wine in the world. As the world's familiarity with Argentine wine grows, international demand grows with it. The wines born of this region are world-class quality, and for the most part this place is untouched. It’s still pure. The country’s wine regions spread from the foothills of the Andes Mountains, and all the runoff water from the snowcaps and glacial melt is used for irrigation for the whole region. This is some of the purest water on the planet. And I don’t mind saying that I probably enjoy a glass of Mendoza wine a little more when I think about the incredibly pure water that grew those grapes. Mendoza has clearly experienced an explosion in popularity over the past decade and the region is ripe with new winery and real estate development. I’ve witnessed it personally; there’s obvious evidence of it everywhere down there, and it’s one of the hottest conversation topics among the locals. Northern California also saw a real estate explosion in the 1980s and the investment analogy couldn’t be clearer. Mendoza real estate prices are currently a fraction of the cost you would find in any other major wine region in the world. Vineyard estate developments are popping up across Mendoza’s landscape; and this is a trend that seems to be rapidly growing in momentum. In fact, I’ll be so bold as to say that I believe we’re one of the trailblazers of this movement. --Scott Mathis

Algodon Wine Estates

I just flew back from business in San Rafael, and realized as I read through these entries that I haven’t mentioned Algodon Wine Estates yet. So, for those of you who don’t know what Algodon Wine Estates is- let me start by saying that as I traveled more broadly in Argentina, particularly to the splendid Mendoza wine region, I stumbled upon what I felt were incredible opportunities: -opportunities to invest in luxury agrotourism targeted to both Argentinean nationals and international tourists. -and an opportunity to create an elite, gated, golf course/winery community. Hence Algodon Wine Estates was born. Now let me just say here on a personal note- this has to be one of the best ideas I’ve ever had. I may even retire there myself one day. In my opinion, it’s not only an incredible investment opportunity for both myself and my business partners, it’s honestly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. Here is the real estate tag we use that I think pretty much sums up what Algodon Wine Estates is about: “Algodon Wine Estates (AWE) is situated in the hills of the Sierra Pintada Mountains at the base of the Andes, in San Rafael, Mendoza. Our stunning Argentine vineyard and golf estate encompasses over 2,050 acres (830 hectares) of picturesque terrain that harmoniously intermingles with multiple golf courses, lush vineyards, fruit and olive orchards, water reserves and channels, and spectacular tree-lined roads. The enormous estate also features a boutique world-class winery and tasting room, a traditional Mendocinian lodge, clubhouse, and an award-winning restaurant. Some of the property’s original structures, whose elegant rustic style adds a certain element of charm and comfort to the estate’s overall character, date as far back as 1921. The vineyard’s oldest vines date back to the 1940s and are comprised of seven varieties of grapes including Malbec; Argentina’s signature varietal. AWE’s surrounding resort and lodge frame this vineyard and golf estate, creating an alluring sanctuary of relaxation and tranquility.” Period. This place is truly magnificent, and it amazes me that what started out as a boutique winery and golf estate- has become a multimillion-dollar homesite development project that buyers are scrambling to own a piece of. More on Algodon Wine Estates next time. Let’s get busy! --Scott Mathis

My Trip to Buenos Aires

When I arrived in Buenos Aires in 2003, it was common knowledge that the economy had recently suffered a debilitating blow, that the country had defaulted on its national debt and that the unemployment rate was soaring. Since I am by nature a contrarian, this was part of my motivation for going. Although my expectations were somewhat tamed by media coverage about the economic and social problems, I had hoped to enjoy the city’s charms and the value of its currency which had devalued by about 70% from its previous level. In fact, I was “wowed” to find a vibrant world-class city, full of sophisticated, well-dressed and happy people, historic beautiful neighborhoods with lush green parks and public monuments, wide-open boulevards lined with buildings boasting some of the finest architecture I had ever seen. I was also enthralled with the great shopping… markets…. music…. dancing…. wonderful food, wines and entertainment. I knew then why they call Buenos Aires the Paris of South America, at a third of the price here in the States and an even larger value discrepancy in comparison to the major European cities.

My enchantment with the city prompted my interest to learn more about the local real estate market. The more I learned, the more convinced I became that there was a huge opportunity, that prices were extremely low compared to other leading cities and with the economy and tourism rebounding strongly, many elements of risk had already greatly subsided. I was determined to take action.

But that’s enough for today. Next time I’ll be talking about how my vision has indeed been realized by my companies (InvestProperty Group and DPEC Partners) in the creation of a luxury boutique hotel (“Algodon Mansion”) in Buenos Aires, and then later a very beautiful wine and golf resort (“Algodon Wine Estates”) in San Rafael- the southern heart of Mendoza.

Life is good!

-- Scott Mathis