Huarpe

Huarpe is a winery in Agrelo, in Luján de Cuyo. This is the traditional core of Mendoza viticulture, just south of the city, and home ground for Malbec, Argentina's leading grape. Since 2016 it has worked hand in hand with Riglos, a project founded by two Buenos Aires friends, Darío Werthein and Fabián Suffern. In 2002 they set out to find alluvial soils, altitude and wide swings between day and night temperatures. They found all three in Gualtallary, in the Uco Valley, at a time when the area drew almost no outside investment. The name Riglos comes from a small town in La Pampa province where their immigrant ancestors settled in the early 20th century. Today the joint house, Huarpe Riglos Family Wines, draws on two vineyards. Finca Las Catalinas is in Agrelo, and Finca Las Divas is in Gualtallary, where the team was among the first to plant Cabernet Franc. Las Divas pays tribute to women of art and the stage, from Édith Piaf to the tango singer Tita Merello. Winemaking is led by co-founder José Hernandez Toso. He did his first harvest at 17 at his family's Toso winery and studied in Heilbronn. He then did research in Weinsberg and worked at J. Hofstätter in Alto Adige and Graf Adelmann in Baden-Württemberg. His goal is wines that are elegant, fresh and balanced.

Terroir

Both vineyards lie at the foot of the Andes, where altitude offsets a warm latitude. Finca Las Catalinas in Agrelo (Luján de Cuyo) sits at 950 m. Its clay-rich soils hold water and slow ripening, and drip irrigation keeps yields low and berries small. Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Tannat grow here. Finca Las Divas lies at 1,350 m in Gualtallary, in the higher, cooler Uco Valley. Its soils are poor, free-draining alluvial sandy loam with stones from the Las Tunas river. Strong sun and cold nights give thicker skins and natural acidity.