Winemaker Notes
Bodega Calle places great emphasis on gently crafting wines with regional distinction and grand personality. A small-lot, gravity-flow, red wine production studio, Bodega Calle concentrates on varietal wines and premium red blends sourced from viticultural areas throughout Luján de Cuyo and Valle de Uco. Located in the restored Claudio Erice winery, originally built in 1925, Bodega Calle opened in 2001.
All wines are made with the use of gravity, never pumped, to deliver the grapes to the fermentation tanks. Grapes are farmed without the use of herbicides or pesticides, are hand-picked and sorted and vinified using native yeasts. The winery has been inducted to the DOC of Luján de Cuyo, the 5th winery ever to be admitted. Kirk Ermisch is its principal owner and general manager.
By far the largest and best-known winemaking province in Argentina, Mendoza is responsible for over 70% of the country’s enological output. Set in the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountains, the climate is dry and continental, presenting relatively few challenges for viticulturists during the growing season. Mendoza, divided into several distinctive sub-regions, including Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, is the source of some of the country’s finest wines.
For many wine lovers, Mendoza is practically synonymous with Malbec. Originally a Bordelaise variety brought to Argentina by the French in the mid-1800s, here it found success and renown that it never knew in its homeland where a finicky climate gives mixed results. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir are all widely planted here as well (and sometimes even blended with each other or Malbec). Mendoza's main white varieties include Chardonnay, Torrontés, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.