Exploring La Celia: A Premier Uco Valley Winery
Last week I attended a masterclass at the Institute of the Masters of Wine showcasing the very first winery in the Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina, La Celia. The current winemaker, Andrea Ferreyra has been making wines for Le Celia since 2006 and she was present to lead us through the masterclass.
La Celia was founded by Eugenio Bustos in 1890. Eugenio was the first person to plant Malbec in the Uco Valley. He was involved in horse breeding initially and traded his best horse for the Malbec vines that were directly from France. La Celia has proved to be one of the best spots to grow high quality Malbec. And La Celia has 3 distinct appellations within its estate to prove it.
La Celia is located in the southern part of the Uco Valley. The three distinct appellations are Paraje Altamira, La Consulta and Eugenio Bustos. What makes the region so ideal is not only the location but the unique soil types present. The soil types are predominately alluvial and calcareous but there are also sandy, clay loamy soils and rocks covered in calcium carbonate.
The vineyards are also located at some of the highest vineyards in the world, at altitudes between 980 – 1100 mtrs. This produces high altitude wines with a long, delicate, elegant finish, with a distinct minerality running through them.
The masterclass was a vertical tasting of their Heritage Malbec, from 2006 – 2022. The idea behind Heritage is to showcase the single vineyards of La Celia coming from the 3 appellations.
The Heritage 2006 is Andrea’s baby as it was her first vintage for La Celia. Andrea said that back in 2006, the style was to imitate Bordeaux, heavy on the oak with lots of concentration. She herself used 100% new, 225 litre French oak barrels but due to the excellent natural acidity present in the grapes as well as the shallow soils and calcium carbonate covered rocks in the soil, the wine was still very fresh with a mineral, minty note, plenty of fruit on the palate and fine tannings. Despite its age, this wine still has aging potential.
In 2012 she started to move away from using lots of oak and began to use new and used barrels as well as picking earlier to maintain freshness. The 2015 harvest is when she started to use foudres resulting in more floral notes, violets and herbs floating around as well.
In 2017 she began using whole bunch in her winemaking, again to get that lively quality she was looking for in her wines. The grapes for this Heritage wine came from Parcel 49, a single vineyard in Paraje Altamira.
2019 was the harvest of the decade with moderate conditions and a cloudy January which gave a wine that was fresh and elegant with chalky tannins, a hint of graphite and subtle violets on the nose. She again used whole bunch, around 15-30% during vinification.
The 2021 was where the concept of single vineyard wines like the Heritage begin to really show their potential. This was a wine with a fruity and floral character, showing precise salinity and that elusive sapidity. The wine also had beautiful texture. She used 2000 litre foudres for this wine.
The last wine was the 2022 Heritage, very young but showing plenty of potential, it’s big and generous on the palate, having red and black fruits on the nose with balanced acidity.
After the Malbecs, Andrea introduced us to their Cabernet Franc. This variety is quite popular in Argentina but has yet to make a splash on the international market. Le Celia was the first to launch single variety Cabernet Franc back in 2010. Previously, it had only been used as a blending variety.
Andrea uses 2 clones for the Cabernet Franc. 214 is from the Loire and 327 is from Bordeaux. Andrea favours the 214 for because its from soils that are limestone and calcareous, much like the soil of La Celia. The 2021 had a very fresh profile with high tannins, a lean but sapid wine, perfect to have with leaner cuts of beef. The 2022 was more concentrated with black fruit character, a smooth, intense wine, more suited for a fattier cut of steak.
All in all a fascinating insight and tasting into the terroir and wines of the Uco Valley.