South America
Escorihuela
Founded by Don Miguel Gascón in 1884, the winery forms part of the prestigious group initiated by pioneering winemaker, Nicholas Catena Zapata. Escorihuela draws on the natural beauty of its surroundings for inspiration both in the winery and the vineyard. The winery was the first to bottle 100% single varietal Malbec in 1940 – Escorihuela’s expertise in this native Argentiniean grape remains well respected today. The President’s Blend Candela Reserva was born in honour of Juan Peron, its most notorious fan.
Humberto Canale
This Bodega is one of Argentina’s best-kept secrets, nestled away in a far corner of the wilds of Patagonia. Established in 1909, it has been in continual ownership of the Barzi family and is now managed by the 5th generation Guillo. Since those early days, the family business has forged an enviable reputation for its fantastically concentrated wines, using both indigenous and international grape varieties. At 39.2 degrees southern latitude, Patagonia is the southernmost region in which vines are grown and is the coolest place for vine production in the country. The majority of the Canale vineyards are in the High Valley of the Río Negro, in the northern part of Patagonia. The Negro River which flows through the region is surrounded by fertile valleys.
Matusalem
Matusalem & Company was founded in 1872 in Santiago de Cuba with the dream of creating the highest quality, smoothest tasting rum in the world. Matusalem Rum is now produced and bottled in the Dominican Republic where the soil, climate and quality of sugar cane combined with the family’s secret formula enable the company to recreate the rum that helped define Cuba’s golden age of 1930s-1950s. Matusalem rum is still produced in the traditional method to the same exacting standards established by the brand’s founders.
Palma Louca/ Xingu Brewery
Based in Rio de Janeiro and owned by a group of associates, Palma Louca Lager and Xingu Black beer are contract brands brewed by Kaiser in Jacarai. Kaiser is the second largest brewery in Brazil, known for their speciality beers and excellence in quality brewing. The supporting Palma Louca website is an independent news vehicle created and directed by Cesario Mello Franco, one of the associate brand owners. The website is used as a communications vehicle where young Brazilian writers and journalists write pieces that are read worldwide. Both brands bring something new and exciting to the UK market. 100% authentic Brazilian imports.
Viña Casal de Gorchs
Fresita is produced by Viña Casal de Gorchs, a family owned and run company, which started out in 1927 after the Rabat Family emigrated to Santiago from Cataluña in Spain and bought their first vineyards.
Viña Montes
Montes have long been known as a producer of some of Chile’s finest wines. Since Aurelio Montes and his partners established the winery back in the late 1980s, they have stayed true to their founding philosophy of striving for the highest quality wine production possible. Their Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon 1987 became the first ever premium Chilean export wine, leading the way for Chilean wine production. Situated in the Apalta region of the Colchagua Valley, the magnificent Montes winery “La Finca” was completed in December 2002. It was built on a gravity flow system; grapes are selected and gently crushed in the roof of the winery and then transported by gravity to the fermenting tanks. Montes have an ingenious system of pumping over – to avoid pumping they have built a wine lift, which is a tank with a 5000 litre capacity that can be lowered below the floor level to allow the juice to flow unaided, then lifted to above the original tank height to allow the juice to again run free. In 2005, Aurelio Montes began working with Pedro Parra, the only Chilean with a PhD in the terroir from the Grignon Institute in Paris, to explore micro-terroirs within the Montes estates. Montes have now discovered three different soil types from different geological origins in the Apalta estate and three different micro-terroirs in the Marchigue estate. Different varieties have been planted in these areas to explore the perfect combination of terroir and grape variety. Innova Chile, a government institution, is supporting the research, as they recognise this will be an invaluable tool in educating smaller grape growers about terroir and micro terroir within the Apalta Valley.
Vina Ventisquero
Founded in 1998 by Gonzalo Vial, owner of Chile’s leading fresh food producer, Agrosuper, Viña Ventisquero winery is one of the most modern in Chile yet manages to retain a ‘boutique’ and innovative outlook. Viña Ventisquero is the first vineyard in Latin America to make use of a state-of-the-art integrated Management System which has led to its acquisition of three certifications (ISO9001, ISO14001 and HACCP) relating to human health and the highest quality and strictest environmental policy. It is all of these things that has enabled Vina Ventisquero to combine traditional methods of viticulture with the most up-to-date means of vinification.
