2005 Alberto Furque, Tempranillo, Argentina

Members are loving the Furque, so I was able to obtain more of the Tempranillo (last shipped about a year and half ago). Here is a soulful food wine. It is earthy, a very old-world approach, and with a tad of new-world style thrown in there. Very easy to enjoy.

In 1995, Alberto Furque and his family purchased an old winery and vineyards in an area just south of Mendoza called the Uco Valley. The estate, known as Aconquija, is located in the small town of La Consulta and is being enthusiastically run by Carolina Furque, Alberto’s daughter. They work hard at the highest level to produce these very authentic wines. The Uco Valley is considered the sweet spot in the region of Mendoza. The dry climate has very cool nights, very warm days, and nearly 300 days of sunshine each year. The village of La Consulta and its vineyards average 3,000 feet in elevation. The vines are planted north/south on terraces in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. The name Aconquija, which means “snow near the moon,” is named for the Western Hemisphere’s highest snow-covered peak in the Andes Mountains (22,835 ft), just to the north of here. Carolina harvests much later than many other growers in the area, working with an agronomist to be sure that the grapes have achieved physiological ripeness. All hand-harvested, the fruit is de-stemmed and fermentation is temperature-controlled. The wines are aged in insulated concrete tanks. Here are authentic wines without filtration to preserve their intense color and structure.