Alfredo Bartholomaus gave me this copy of the Laura Catena book called VINO ARGENTINO back on September 15th, 2010. It was one of the last times that he came to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits? It's been awhile since then and I cannot remember so I will just say that's a possibility? Alfredo passes through periodically, sometimes announced and sometimes a complete surprise. We go way back we do. It's always a treat to see him as he always has someone or something interesting for me. Thanks amigo for that. I have met more interesting people this way and have often blogged about them here at : chatwine or chat art or even chatpoetry as I often see these visits on many levels being a curious artist as I am.
He may have had Ernesto Catena with him that last time ; he's Laura Catena's brother. I am not sure of the time line as they often for me blur and so often connect, one with the other and so on. I really do see life as lots of interesting tangents. That's one of the very few math expressions that I have ever taken to heart and I am glad for it as it describes a whole lot of what I like to refer to as both planned and unplanned contacts between things. I love serendipitous contacts, too as they are such a complete and quick become immensely welcome ones, too!
Anyway, it may also have been when Laura and Nicolas Catena came back to Washington D.C. to introduce the most recent vintage of the Zapata Catena? That may have been when this book started to circulate and I was invited to the event and was unnable to attend becasue of the choice I had to make on that particular occasion? It was whether to go to the CATENA event in Washington D.C. to go meet my son's eleventh grade high school teachers? No contest : meet his " new " teachers. It happened at the opening red carpet Uptown movie house movie opening with Ashton Kutcher( spelling? ) and Demi Moore? Meet my son's " new " tenth grade teachers , of course. I would have loved to have met Demi being a bit of a fan of hers all the way back to that silly romantic film called : " About Last Night ".
Laura is about the only one that I have not really ever spoken to except to say " hello " briefly to her while dancing with my wife at the Argentinia Embassy back on October 3rd, 2002 when her father Nicolas was there and they both were introducing the 1999 vintage of the CATENA ZAPATA. Boy was that a fun evening with such great wine and food and entertainment and what a setting, too! Loved it! I have the signed bottle by both of the empty 1999 here by my side now as I type this of the CATENA ZAPATA to remind me as it is dated in Nicolas' own hand-writing. I do love it as well as the 1997 CATENA ZAPATA bottle here, too enjoyed for the unveiling of this wine by just a very small hand full of Washington's wine community ( retailers and restaurateurs ) at the then Gabriel restaurant with chef Gregory Hill in the old Barcelo Hotel spot there almost at the intersection of P Street and Dupont Circle, N.W. What a lovely, intimate dinner and wine-food-pairing that was. I sat next to wine-maker Jose Galante and his wife Beatrice and they both signed my empty bottle of the CATENA ZAPATA 1997.
I have pictures of that dinner that I made copies for and gave to Alfredo and Alex. Funny, on that occasion I had to rush out and buy a disposable camera for just this purpose because I had a gut feeling that it would be well-worth recording and helping to preserve such a personal and warm and grand moment in time for us lucky few.
Boy how I do ramble and tell stories : sorry! I do think it all does help to preserve some of the history and some of the moment that is otherwise all but lost and forgotten so quickly as if it never happened. Our wine history is lush and rich and verdant and well-worth preserving as it, too is a marvel and tells us how things have come to be where they are now.
It's also how Argentina has drawn attention to itself and to it's wines, food, culture and beauty. The world would not be as interested or as informed without all these occasions that have drawn our world attention to them We can all thank the Catena family as well as people like Alfredo Bartholomaus and Nora Favelukes ( herself from Argentina ) that way back when so many years ago she brought Nicolas Catena into contact with Alfredo and together the three of them with Alex' help later forged the beginnings of the Argentina and the Argentina wine world that be barely knew anything of back then and that have grown to love and to follow so closely these days with both our eyes and our palates and all our senses, really.
Back then it was Alfredo hitting the D.C. pavement and sidewalks and stores with wines like VALDIVIESO, COUSINO-MACUL, SAINT MORILLON and VALENTIN BIANCHI of San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina. Thanks Alfredo : we hardly knew these way back when but we sure do know them now because of all the work that you did by yourself first and then later with the help of Nora Favelukes.
So I scanned the index for the names of Alfredo Bartholomaus, Nora Favelukes and VALENTIN BIANCHI and I was really aghast at not finding any of the three. How?!? Was this a mistake?!? Anyway, it caught me off guard and I must say I was myself deeply disappointed not to find mention of any of the three. Oh well, I'm just one person with just one opinion and point-of-view. I understand this. But I continued on as I wanted to see what this book called VINO ARGENTINO written by Laura Catena was all about?
When Alfredo gave me the book I must say that I was not very excited about it because I have received various books along these last few years on Argentina ( including recently the cookbook by Millman - it was my favorite of all of them, signed by him, too ) and I have not been that impressed, really. I still guard with pride, though and show it to everyone that comes the poetry and painting book that the Catena's gave me ( and signed as I asked them to ) when I visited Argentina the only time ever with Nora Favelukes and perhaps twelve or so other really lucky people in 1995. When Ernesto saw the book recently in the store and signed it for me his eyes lit up with surprise and he said that he had not seen the book in a really long time.
Thanks Nora for giving 120% plus of your time. love, energy and effort to make this perhaps the greatest wine trip I have ever been on?!? All the Catena family were gracious and wonderful on this trip including wine-makers like Jose and Pedro ( that took special care of us when we were there - gracias a todos ). SO : my expectations were low when I found my copy of VINO ARGENTINO and I must say that it has been overall quite a success with me and raised my awareness of many things and pleased me more than not.
I do have some comments on how I would like the next edition to be so as to add more immediate enjoyment for those reading Laura's wonderful words about the people, the land, the food, the way of life, the rich history, etcetera. She really makes this come beautifully alive. Being an artist I really respond well to her words and want to read more of them than she has included. I'd also like to have all the pictures captioned. And most of all, I'd like to have the three maps at the back included in a smaller size on each of the pages where she goes into detail with words describing these roads, areas and specific regions. That would be amazing, really. Make it more immediately visual and use the maps to help guide us that perhaps do not know the land quite as well as she does? That's easily fixed I hope?
Lines like these really made the book for me : " In Lujon de Cuyo, Mendoza , the Ruta 40 is lined with a who's who of ... Even on a warm summer day, you will be cool while riding under the gigantic poplar trees that line each dirt road in the area. There are no sidewalks, so you may find yourself sharing the street with children walking to school, buses, harvest trucks, stray cats and dogs, and families walking or biking to work. Old adobe houses with cracked walls, pretty wildflower gardens, and clothes hanging on outdoor lines share the landscape with beautifully restored wineries. " ( page 89 : " Who's Who of Winemaking in Perdial ). Because without these people there alongside the " who's who " and their wineries none of this could be accomplished. They are the bread and the water of the earth there and essential to the vine's success : a symbiotic relationship where one needs the other to survive and thrive ).
I became an admirer of Laura and this book with sentences like these because it made me forget the commercial side of the wine business and focus on the land and it's people and make me want to return to see more of this type of thing. Fortunately there are quite a few impressive sentences like this to keep me reading to discover more of the soul and the heart and the strength of the Argentinian people that continue to survive and smile even with so much political upheaval and unrest. According to Laura that is why so many spend there money because they have no idea exactly what tomorrow will bring and if their money is worth anything or not?!?
It's nice for me as I read Laura's book and read more about the country and it's people and those that come and fall in love with both for me to pause and remember times like the Festival of Life and Harvest that we arrived at with Nora Favelukes and attended that night way back on Sunday, March 5th, 1995. There we all were our small group with one of the Catena family there besides us with her daughter and her daughter's best girlfriend? What fun, how personal, up-and-close and intimate. I had arrived. There I was witnessing an incredible spectacle both on the lit-up stage in front of me with dancers in costumes, music and colors and lights and there also, right besides me two cute little Argentinian girls enjoying each other's company and smiling , talking and laughing. I had it : two wonderful slices of Argentinian life there side-by-side that helped give me a sense of Argentina then just as now reading Laura's lines about the dirt road with no sidewalks ... nice.
I will have to include more names here but both my gift poetry and painting book ( as well as all my photos ) are at work and I am writing this now at home. It's what I call a work-in-progress. Almost everything I do is and I like it this way.
So Laura thanks for this book and what I have learned from it. I've met your father and your mother and your brother now as well as many other members of your family. That's very special to me, really. I have also met, thanks to Alfredo Alejandro Vigil ( had lunch with him at Nam Viet in Washington D.C. and blogged about it already at : chatwine.blogspot.com ) and Alejandro Sejanovich ( had a wine-tasting in the store with Alejandro when he visited years ago ) ; and a fabulous dinner with him, too with John Peters and Rick DeLauder and Kumar and more in Washington D.C. ). I have seen again Jose Galante and his wife here in Washington D.C. after having met them in Mendoza.
I have not seen Pedro Marchevesky since my trip in 1995 and I really enjoyed my conversation with him as we took a bus ride south on a bumpy road I think? We whisked along quickly and sat side-by-side on one of the seats and we talked about wine experiences. I learned quite a bit from Pedro on this trip. At that point I never did meet Susana Balbo. It was much later when I had lunch with a small group and sat besides her at the Fogo De Chao restaurant at 13th Streets and Pennsylvania I believe N.W.? She later came to the store and when she saw my pictures of Pedro she exclaimed : " My how young he looks ! " I loved that, really I did.
Anyway, Pedro talked a whole lot about discovering how to manage the tannins and the phenols in wine and in the vineyards to produce more rounded and appealing and less sharp and astringent and harsh wines. He outlined then in pretty great detail many things that he was working on with everyone on the wine-making / as well as vineyard team to realize these softer tannins and make them work for their wines. He also went into great detail how much he learned from visiting the Robert Mondavi winery and working there. He loved the open communication and the sharing of information freely with everyone so that everyone could benefit and make better wine. He gave a whole lot of credit to Robert Mondavi for creating and nurturing such an open and free and comfortable exchange of ideas / opinions/ research, etcetera. I loved listening to him talk about this. It made me smile and feel so good and it made me want to dive head-first into more wine and sharing it with people like my customers in Washington D.C. I still feel this way. Gracias muchas Pedro!
Perhaps my favorite picture in the book is on page 119 of the vines and the canopy that they make as they join the two rows at the top. It spoke to me immediately in a gut sort of way and it inspires me in a really artistic fashion, too. I'd like to paint a series standing right where the photographer did to snap this picture. I'd go there during the year and draw it/paint it/sketch it/collage it over a period of time as it went from no blooms and leaves and grapes to a whole canopy filled to exploding ( blocking out the view in the distance ) and creating more shade and contrasts as the sun is blocked more and more and more. Too bad there's not a picture like that for contrast right beside this one. It would bring to home so clearly the point that you talk about here in your book and protecting the grapes from too much sunlight.
This picture makes me think of some of the very last oil paintings of the great French artist Claude Monet that he did of the Japanese bridge at Giverny in the French countryside. he painted it over and over again in so many intense colors, layer-upon-layer-upon-layer just like these trellises vines would attain with time during each year's growing season.
My second favorite picture is that on pages 52-53 of the dirt road shaded so completely by the poplar trees are these? The title is " Chapter III Mendoza City : Gateway To The Wine Country. I just love all of this lush canopy of leaves. It's pretty impressive and sure must provide some much-needed cover from the intense heat or the rain or any other natural elements?
I also loved learning about what Ursula and Donald Hess have done for the people of Colome ( that we sell, the white Torontes is on our shelves now and I want to try it all over again after reading your words ). This is what you wrote : " Prior to their arrival, the four-hundred-person Colome community - living in shantytown-like huts scattered around the mountains-had been riven by malnutrition and alcoholism and faced an uncertain future. The people lived in dire poverty and had extremely limited access to food, medical care, and education. For the Hesses, providing this community with a place of work and refuge has been their proudest achievement." Well, I will always have a place on my shelves in Cleveland Park N.W. Washington D.C. for these COLOME wines : the white Torrontes and the red Malbec.
I wish that you would have talked a bit more about the Malbec of France and Cahors. They are quite often excellent though different and that is why the grape was originally carried carefully and with love and attention all the way to South America. They deserve more attention for their very fine Cahors wines that in many ways were the inspiration for your wines in Argentina. In my humble opinion it's always best to give credit where credit is due : and I believe that you could have stressed this a bit more as I am quite sure there are plenty people out there today championing the Cahors red wines and quite willing to be quoted or paraphrased here in your quite interesting book that covers a wide range of subjects and not just wine.
For this I give you great credit and will end this blog on an upbeat/positive note. Wine is only one of the valuable ingredients in life and should only take it's rightful place their and add to the whole, wonderful equation that we call life. The food, the people, the place and setting ( indoors-outdoors ), the time of the year and the weather are all a part of life and wine takes it's place alongside all of these. I like that you incorporate them all and give them all a chance to shine along with everything else.
I look forward to returning to see more of Argentina someday. I have always sold the wines of Argentina and told my wonderful stories there that your family was very instrumental in making happen for me. I am sorry that in Buenos Aires I never did see your father and mother on our last evening there before returning home. Nora Favelukes was nice enough to excuse me that night to be with my two artist friends ( both from Argentina, both living in Bueonos Aires ) that I had befriended in Paris, France back in the late 1970's : Cristina Piceda and Maria Vallecillo ( she lived then at : Santa Fe 3996-6( 77) 1425 Buenos Aires, Argentina Tel # 71-2041 ).
There we were all reunited in a popular Argentina restaurant in the heart of Bueonos Aires : one American artist man and two lovely, beautiful Argentinian artist ladies ( Cristina worked in sculpture and Maria in collage and paper mountings ) speaking French a mile-a-minute with lots of sounds and merriment all around us coming from Argentinians and Americans and English and Spanish trying valiantly to drown out our passionate and forceful French! What an evening! I will never forget it. However, I am sorry not to have seen your father and mother on that evening as I am sure it, too would have been grand.
In closing I would like to say that someday I will post the pictures of when your father first came to the United States and Washington D.C. and Nora called and asked me if I would be willing to meet with her and your father for lunch? She wanted Nicolas Catena to hear from me about the wine business in Washington D.C. and to give him any helpful hints or suggestions for starting his wine-business here? I readily accepted and we went to Bilbo Baggins cafe for lunch in Old Towne. Alexandria, Virginia and the three of us ate sandwiches and had a wonderful conversation about life and wine and all the rest. I have two pictures of us there in the restuarant and I need to include them here at chatwine.blogspot.com sometime really soon.
Cheers and in the meantime I will continue reading your book Laura and gleening the pages for other bits and pieces of news and insights that make up the lovely tapestry that we call life. Gracias e hasta luego. TONY
