Durigutti, 2021 Proyecto Las Compuertas Cabernet Franc, Luján de Cuyo, Argentina
Durigutti Family Winemakers was established in 2002 by brothers Pablo and Héctor Durigutti. They are organically farming 40 hectares of vines in the heart of the Las Compuertas GI in Luján de Cuyo, as well as working with other grower partners across different sub-regions in Luján de Cuyo, Uco Valley and Eastern Mendoza.
Cabernet Franc is central to the Durigutti story in that they were one of the first in Argentina to bottle Cabernet Franc as a single varietal wine in 2010, and today are making 4 different expressions of the variety, including the entry level and reserva from parcels in Lujan de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, from about 10 hectares in total, including 3 hectares of Cabernet Franc planted at their estate vineyard in Las Compuertas they make a Cabernet Franc Rosé and the newest addition to their line up the Proyecto Las Compuertas Cabernet Franc, which is the wine we are looking at today.
As it has been a moment since I have done a video featuring a Cabernet Franc from Argentina, it is worth taking a moment to review the Cabernet Franc picture here. As of 2023, there is 1858 hectares of Cabernet Franc in Argentina, which represents less than 1% of the vineyard area in the country. Despite these tiny plantings, the grape has significant momentum across the country, with nearly 1200 hectares of new plantings just in the last 10 years.
The region of Luján de Cuyo begins about 10km south of the city of Mendoza and stretches about 45km to the south. Because of the regions proximity to the city of Mendoza, it was not only one of the first regions to be cultivated with grape vines back as far back as the 16th century, but as the first region to receive DOC status in 1989 it was also the epicentre of the quality revolution that began in the mid-1990s and continued through the Malbec boom of the early 2000s. And indeed Malbec remains central to the identity of Luján de Cuyo - there is more Malbec planted here than all of France - but it is also an important region for Cabernet Franc, despite its minuscule plantings, it is the 5th most planted variety overall with about 405ha, representing over a quarter of the Cabernet Franc planted in Mendoza.
In terms of the viticultural environment across Luján de Cuyo, there is quite a lot of diversity of terroirs despite the region being characterized as a whole as having a warm, continental climate with very low rainfall. And, as is the case with much of Argentina, elevation and proximity to the Andes plays the most significant role in determining the microclimate of a given sub-region. The elevation ranges from as low as 690m above sea level in the eastern part of the region, to upwards of 1200m above sea level in the westernmost part of the region. This diversity has led to the creations of sub-regions in Luján de Cuyo, two of which have GI status - Agrelo and La Compuertas.
While there is only around 425ha under vines, the Las Compuertas GI is one of the great 'crus' of Luján de Cuyo thanks, in part, to the work of the Durigutti brothers, who helped to found the region and have championed its terroir for over two decades.
The region is located in the westernmost part of Luján de Cuyo, tucked up in the foothills of the Andes, with the Mendoza River marking its southern border. This westerly position in the Andean foothills has a number of advantages and impacts on the region's terroir.
Firstly, its vineyards are at a higher elevation than most of Luján de Cuyo, ranging from 950 to 1080m above sea level, contributing to a wide diurnal range in temperatures, so while the daytime temperatures are a bit warmer, the evening temperatures are significantly cooler, making Las Compuertas one of the coolest sub-regions in Luján de Cuyo, and cooler than both Agrelo and Perdriel, the other two significant 'crus' in Luján de Cuyo.
Secondly, it is the first region to receive the water from the snow melt from the Andes, so it has an abundant water supply for irrigation purposes, in fact the name Las Compuertas translates to 'floodgates' in English.
Finally, the region's position in the foothills means there is a greater diversity of alluvial and fluvial soils brought down by the rivers from the mountains, which is a mix of larger round river stones, calcareous materials and clays, and has led to many producers identifying smaller plots with slightly different soils for micro-vinifications to showcase the region's diversity.
In fact, it is this diversity of terroirs that inspired the Durigutti Proyecto Las Compuertas range, which is a series of terroir micro-expressions of different varieties planted at the estate. So their Cabernet Franc is from a 1 hectare parcel of vines planted in 2015. The parcel was planted with heritage vine material by massale selection on its own roots at a very high density, about 9200 vines per hectare, according to Héctor this is to increase root competition encouraging the roots to dig deeper, and also helps manage yields with the desired yield being around 1 bottle of wine per plant.
We're at an elevation of around 1050m above sea level, and the block has a gentle northeast exposure. In terms of soils, in the Cabernet Franc block are deep, low vigour, sandy-loam soils with a higher concentration of the larger round river stones. In terms of viticultural practices, the will do selective shoot thinning and positioning, and bunch positioning to ensure optimal sunlight exposure, and practice flood irrigation, which also helps to encourage the roots to go deeper into the soils than drip irrigation.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit is all hand-harvested, destemmed but not crushed. The fermentation is in unlined concrete eggs with indigenous yeast, and the fruit undergoes a cold soak for one day, followed by alcoholic fermentation at a temperature of around 23 to 25C. The time on skins is 21 days and they will do regular pigéage during the fermentation and post-fermentation maceration. The aging takes place in unlined concrete egg for about 8 months before bottling.
Key wine facts below:
Producer: Durigutti Family Winemakers
Region: Mendoza
Sub-Region: Luján de Cuyo
Appellation: Las Compuertas IG
Vineyard: Finca Victoria
Soil: Deep, sandy-loam with large, round river stones
Alcohol: 12.8%
