The grapes to produce the Bonarda “Finca Colomé” Salta 2019 – Bodega Colomé “Lote Especial” were hand harvested and carefully sorted in the vineyard and then again at the winery. Following a four day cold maceration, fermentation began in small stainless steel tanks using indigenous yeasts, with twice daily pump-overs. Post-fermentation, the wine was aged in 225L French oak barrels (25% new) for 10 months before bottling.
The fruit comes from a single plot in the Colomé vineyard that surrounds the winery, located at 2,300 metres above sea level in the upper Calchaquí Valley. The high altitude and large diurnal range (up to 25°C difference) ensure the grapes ripen steadily over a long growing season and retain good levels of natural acidity. The vines are trained in the pergola system and planted on complex soils of sand, clay and granite. The area has very low rainfall and the vineyards have drip irrigation systems installed.
Bodega Colomé was established in 1831 and is the oldest working winery in Argentina with one of the world’s highest vineyards. The winery is located in the far north of Argentina in the Upper Calchaquí Valley and is thought to have been founded by the Spanish Governor of Salta, Nicolás Severo de Isasmendi y Echalar. In 1854 his daughter, Ascensión, brought the first pre-phylloxera Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon vines to Bodega Colomé. Although these early efforts were pioneering at the time, it was when Swiss entrepreneur Donald Hess (of Hess Collection, Napa Valley fame) bought Bodega Colomé in 2001 that it underwent the greatest transformation. Today, the winery has 140 hectares of biodynamically-run vineyards planted at altitudes of between 1,750 and 3,111 metres above sea level. French winemaker Thibaut Delmotte has been at the helm since 2005, his winemaking philosophy includes minimal intervention, the use of indigenous yeasts in fermentations and restrained use of oak, so that it never overwhelms the characteristic freshness and the purity of fruit of all of the Bodega Colomé wines.
