In the Aroma Room at Belasco de Baquedano

Belasco de Baquedano sits at 3,346 ft. above sea level, and looks out upon the wide expanses of vineyards that populate the Agrelo district of the Luján de Cuyo region.  Exactly 222 acres of Malbec vines over a century old stand at attention, and line the dirt road leading up to the winery’s front door.

Once inside the brick walls, the most startling thing about Belasco de Baquedano wines, is that there’s really only one.  One grape variety, that is.  With the exception of a Torrontés from La Rioja Province, the winery deals entirely in Malbec.  But not just any Malbec, Baquedano wines are made exclusively from original, French clones and some of the wines are the work of 100-year-old vines.  All Belasco de Baquedano Malbecs are unfiltered an unstablized, a measure that the winery uses to preserve the subtle nuances of the fruit, while at the same time providing intense flavor and body.

The Aroma Room

After a short tour through the vineyards and winery, visitors are led into the one other thing that makes Belasco de Baquedano stand out.  Stepping into the Sala de Aromas, (the aroma room) is akin to like stepping up to the plate – turning off every other sense and letting your nose take the lead.  The problem is, it can just as easily lead you astray.

Belasco de Baquedano contains the only aroma room of its kind located in South America, and the room houses 46 distinct aromas, all of which you are likely to find in wine – and some of which you wouldn’t want to. Things like musk, butter, hazelnuts, mushroom, geraniums, and pineapple.

“What’s truly incredible is seeing how where people are from influences what aromas they can recognize and what aromas they feel are normal, or not,” says Carla Mancuso, tour guide.  “Brazilians tend to be excellent with fruit aromas, bad with flowers.  North Americans are great with the flowers and always identify coffee and chocolate.  And Argentines are kind of a mix, but they never miss cinnamon.”

Though cultural background and experience with what you’re smelling is certainly an important factor, the nose – and the memory – can be trained, and the Sala de Aromas is where wine lovers come to do the olfactory heavy lifting.

Navarra Restaurant

While the aroma room generates rave reviews, the Navarra Restaurant also leaves quite an impression on visitors to the winery.  Located in what would be the “Pent house suite” of the winery, Navarra offers upscale South American cuisine in four-courses, accompanied by Malbec every step of the way.

What to taste & buy:

Belasco de Baquedano is one of the only wineries in Mendoza that produces ice wine, and in this case it is made from all Malbec and in very small batches.  Grapes destined for the ice wine are left to hang on the vine and are only harvested after the first frost, when temperatures sink to 5-10˚C below zero.

Packed in a 550 mL bottle, Antracita is a wine packed with intense aromas of ripe plums, dried figs, hints of blackberry backed by a full-body and unctuous sweetness that successfully toes the line between deliciously sweet and just a little too much.

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