Argentine Wines

Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world. 

Argentina is a vast producer of wine and so throughout your stay in the country you are likely to try a number of different wines from different regions. Large areas of fertile vineyards stretch along the foothills of the Andes dotted with more than 3,000 wineries. The vineyards are based almost entirely on European grape varieties. The region is blessed with a combination of plentiful water from snow melt, sandy harsh soil, a dry a climate with year-round sunshine, which makes for enormous yields.

Cordoba has a wine growing tradition that goes back some centuries. Records show that 10,000 vines were planted the year after the foundation of Cordoba in 1574. The wine cellar of the Jesus Maria Jesuit farm was the largest in the Spanish colony of the River Plate. From this cellar, the very first bottle of wine from the Spanish Americas was sent to the king in Spain. This wine was christened "Lagrimilla" (tear drops), which we still drink as a dessert wine at Los Potreros today!

Wine production in Cordoba had a second wind when immigrants arrived from the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia in northern Italy. They founded "Colonia Caroya" in 1878 only 50 kilometers from Cordoba city in the heart of the old Jesuit country. The spirit of those pioneers still continues, as do some of their traditions and dialects.

Today riders, drivers, walkers and birdwatchers alike all enjoy the Cordoba wine produced by   Bodega La Caroyense among others. Trying the different wines of the region is great fun; La Caroyense offers us history, Bodega La Matilde organic and biodynamic wines, Terra Camiare fresh modern wines.

The popularity of Malbec and Torrontes grape varieties is now spreading all over the world and the Beggs are always keen to share informal wine-tastings with their guests. Mendoza, Cafayate and the end of the world, Patagonia, just but a few options at the Los Potreros table.  

Summer in the Kitchen - Part 2

As the summer stretches on we begin to harvest the figs - found across the estancia from our cattle station to the garden at Potrero de Niz. Whilst they are sweet they work perfectly with cheese, meat and other savoury foods. This year we have made lots of fig jams and chutney and with the final harvest we are going to try out hand a honey poached fig with orange and spices.  

The quince is always the last fruit of the orchard to ripen, when they turn a golden yellow, and omit a floral scent, you know it is time to get picking. To preserve the quince we looked at lots of different ideas and followed the Mediterranean influence of cooking the quinces in a sweet syrup to be enjoyed on our homemade yoghurt or even on fresh cheeses like labneh (something Kevin has been learning to prepare). 

Of course, there is nothing more Argentine and traditional than making quince jelly and membrillo, which go together hand in hand. First you make the quince jelly, boiling the fruit with sugar and allowing the colour to turn from yellow to a rich reddish pink. Following in the footsteps of Louie Begg, we separate the quince through a sieve constructed by a chair turned upside down and a tea-towel tied around the legs. This divides the quince jelly from the quince paste (the membrillo). 

In the coming weeks the walnuts will be falling from the trees and the  artichokes “topinambur” will be ready to be dug up and stored for the winter. Throughout the year there is always something to do and ways to save the fresh produce for the months ahead. We are looking forward to continuing this research into preserving foods and how we can learn to use nature to help us in reducing our overall carbon footprint. 

Summer in the Kitchen - Part 1

In the winter most of our fruit trees are dormant waiting for the spring and the first rains of the year, then they burst into life and by summer we have an abundance of produce marked by the sprouting of the wild asparagus on the hills.  

“Pick, prepare, preserve” is our ethos over summer. Our chefs are working hard on finding delicious new ways to preserve the harvest from the summer months to last us into the winter. 

In previous posts we have talked about our new efforts of smoking meats and this has been a great success and a step in the right direction. We are constantly finding new solutions. Throughout the last few months we focused on picking vegetables, preserving in flavoured oil alongside making jams, jellies and chutneys to last into the winter.

This year, like many years before we have had a bumper harvest of aubergines and have made “escabeche” or pickled aubergine a traditional antipasti, flavoured with chilli flakes, garlic and bay leafs.

The orchard at Loza is filled with plums, peaches and apricots and wild cherries. We began by filling jars with wild cherries and sugar to make a cherry brandy, that will be ready in just a few weeks time after three months of brewing. The ‘guindado’ is traditionally made with brandy but our estancia recipe has always used locally sourced gin. 

The soft summer fruits have been used in jams, poached in red wine and amaretto, or fruit compotes for topping yoghurt. 

We foraged the trees from the waterfall to pick the Mirabelles (a sweet yellow plum). The apples from Los Melados have also been turned into a vast array of jams.