Staphyle

Staphyle is the project of Federico Porretta, third generation of a Mendoza family whose grandparents arrived from Italy. Before wine, the Porrettas left their mark on the province in very different fields: building infrastructure, energy and communications. Staphyle was conceived as a way of giving something back to the land that raised them, and of showing what it can do far beyond Argentina. In 2018 the family bought Finca Familia Porretta in Agrelo, part of Luján de Cuyo, the area just south of Mendoza city that locals call the Primera Zona, the traditional core of Mendoza viticulture. Its 60 hectares carry vines around 35 years old: Malbec, the grape that found its true home in Mendoza, alongside Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Tempranillo, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Some 95% of the winery's wines come from this estate. The bolder chapter is Potrerillos, a valley by a lake in the Andean foothills where nobody had planted vines before. Staphyle put in three hectares of selected Malbec clones there in 2014. The result is Dragón de Vino, which Tim Atkin has rated up to 95 points. The range runs from the Iris and Vástago de Gea lines through Premium and Partida Limitada to the Micro Terroirs Malbecs from single sites in the Valle de Uco, a high valley south of Mendoza.

Terroir

Staphyle works two very different sites in Mendoza, the province on the eastern side of the Andes. Finca Familia Porretta lies in Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, in the traditional vine country just south of Mendoza city, and is planted with mature vines of around 35 years. Potrerillos, 69 km from the city, sits in the Andean foothills: the vines start at 1,435 m and climb towards 2,000 m. A 20.3 °C swing between day and night lets the grapes ripen while keeping their acidity fresh. Steep alluvial slopes hold little water or nutrients, which naturally restrains vigour. Irrigation water from the Mendoza and Blanco rivers is very pure and low in salts.