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

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

Tennis court photo update!

I’d like to share a letter I received last week from Algodon Wine Estates’ Director of Finance and Administration, Rubén Barsamian. Rubén’s been doing a great job in San Rafael pushing the tennis construction forward. Here’s his photo update regarding the tennis courts:

“Scott,

Attached I'm sending updated photos of the tennis center construction. The first one corresponds to the twin clay courts to the west, covered with chipped brick:”

“The second picture shows the already leveled site for the four clay courts that will be built next to the first two. There the bricks have to be placed and leveled and the retaining wall needs to be constructed:”

“The third photo shows the single clay court to the east, near the golf fairway:”

Muchas gracias, Señor Rubén. What a great partner we have in Buenos Aires. Without his steadfast force and direction, we would not be seeing such great forward movement. Our construction team has also finished work on the new canal:

Algodon Wine Estates was featured recently in Los Andes newspaper, which may perhaps be described as the “New York Times” of Mendoza. Check it out even if you don’t read Spanish; there are a few corresponding photos…

--Scott Mathis

Truffles, and a lot of press for AWE!

Our bimonthly newsletter came out this week, and if you’ve already checked it out you will have noticed the introduction to our newest potential asset to Algodon Wine Estates; the cultivation of black and white truffles. We’ll have more information on this as the summer progresses, but in the meantime we’re very excited about the prospect and what it could mean for our estate. I believe we’ve already created an extraordinarily unique and very valuable development there in San Rafael, Mendoza, and recent details such as bottling our own estate-grown extra virgin olive oil, cultivating truffles, making some incredible vintages and providing super-recreational championship golf, tennis, and polo only serves to create even more value in worth as well as in reputation.

Also this week, Algodon gets even more full page write ups; this time in the latest issue of Unique Homes magazine. Titled On Location: The Next Napa Valley. It’s available on your local newsstand, open to page 42! Algodon Mansion also appears at the bottom of the page. Unique Homes magazine focuses on luxury real estate, and targets high-end consumers and sellers. It has a circulation of over 70,000 readers and topics covered include “European castles, oceanfront contemporaries, world-class resort properties and luxurious hideaways.” Algodon Wine Estates is also currently featured on the Elite Traveler website, which receives approximately 80,000 hits per month. We also appear in the newsstand copy of the magazine, which has a circulation of 135,000. They focus on luxury travel and target affluent readers throughout the U.S., so this is another great outlet for Algodon! In just a few weeks we’ll be appearing in United Airlines’ in-flight Hemispheres Magazine which has a print run of 250,000, with a readership of 7.5 million! That’s an incredible number! And last but not least, we also appear in 944 Magazine (circulation: 245,000!) on newsstands now. 944 focuses on fashion, entertainment and luxury lifestyles, with separate editions in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, Orange County, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco. Topics covered include health, fitness, nightlife, restaurants, latest styles and trends, music, art, film, interior design and travel. This has been an amazing month in the media for us!

In other news, Harpers Wine & Spirit online magazine tells us that Argentine wine exports are up in volume and value. That great news in today’s economic climate! Of course, Malbec is the most exported varietal accounting for a hefty 28% of the volume.

--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

Just got back from Algodon Wine Estates…

I had a nice visit in San Rafael last week. A lot great things are happening now; our Director of Project Development, Tourism & Hospitality, Diego Coll Benegas, had lunch with the president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, at the Bodegas de Argentina Annual Harvest. He was there representing Algodon Wine Estates, and his invitation to the event was an honor to our project. It says much about our standing as a significant presence among Mendoza’s best and most well-regarded wineries.

While I was there, we also had an exciting groundbreaking celebration for the Algodon Wine Estates/Clerc Tennis Academy. It was a great day for everyone. There was a big turnout with local press and a literal who’s-who of municipal and local government figures that came to show their support. José Luis’ is always very generous and gracious with his fans, and his celebrity always brings out scores of admirers at these events, which is great for our public relations.

You can read more about both of these events in the Algodon Newsletter, which should be out next week or so.

--Scott Mathis

San Rafael!

San Rafael is a city located in the southern heart of Mendoza, and is home to our premiere boutique winery, and wine and golf estate development, Algodon Wine Estates. I love San Rafael. It has a European countryside appeal that includes sidewalk cafés, tree-lined roads, green spaces, vineyards and wineries, museums, and all kinds of neighboring resorts and lodges. The city sees over 300 days of annual sunshine. And even though this is a quaint and quite city, it’s experiencing a full upswing of economic, cultural, and demographic expansion. While I’m sure the development of Algodon Wine Estates certainly plays a factor in that, this expansion was happening before we even got there. The city is also home to a branch of one of Argentina’s leading universities. And with the Sierra Pintada and Andes Mountains right there as its backdrop, the region is very family friendly offering plenty of things to do. The Rio Atuel and Rio Diamante, which surround the city, are two of Argentina’s most exciting natural attractions. These offer white water rafting, canoeing, camping, horseback riding, hiking, rock climbing, recreational fishing, and just about anything else you can think of. Valle Grande, which is Argentina’s miniature answer to The Grand Canyon, is also only 20 miles away. Las Leñas, one of the greatest ski resorts on the entire South American continent, is also right there. And since a major airport is just 10 minutes away from Algodon Wine Estates, getting there is a breeze.

--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