Tag Archives: Argentina

What’s in a label?

We have a small vineyard in Mendoza. Vineyards make wine and wine has to be bottled and bottles bear labels. So, what’s in a label? As we begun thinking about this, there were some elements that had to be there. The Andes mountains. A pleasing and elegant off-white background. Our names in a modern font. And the place, Valle de Uco (aka Uco Valley). What else? Tradition has it that family wines carry the emblems of the family. And so the Marketing team at The Vines Of Mendoza took inspiration from those emblems and prepared three designs for the three wines we are producing with the 2023 vintage, Malbec Reserva, Malbec Grand Reserva (barrel fermented) and a Blend. Read more...

From wine lover to wine maker…

During a visit last year at Francis Mallmann’s restaurant “Siete Fuegos” in Valle de Uco, Mendoza, Argentina, we were introduced to the private vineyards at The Vines, a 600 hectares estate were wine lovers have the possibility to own 1-10 acres of a professionally managed vineyard to make wine under the guidance expert, top rated Argentine winemakers, such as Mariana Onofri and consulting winemaker Santiago Achaval.

And so it was that earlier this year we purchased one acre of Malbec planted in 2007 at this wonderful place and began the long journey from wine lovers to wine makers. Our Wine Making Plan for 2023 includes three types of Super Premium Malbec: one barrel fermented and two fermented in steel tanks, one half matured in first use French oak barrels and the other in third use barrels. The first harvest took place this March and the blending session will be in November later this year. We look forward to taste our (still very young) wines and experiment (we’re scientists, right?) with different combinations among them and together with other varietals, such as Cabernet Franc. We wanted to make this a very personal voyage and so our label simply carries our names, IBAÑEZ – MOLINER, and the design team is helping us coming up with a label that embodies our personal esthetics and inspiration. The Wine Making Plan for 2024 is already on the way and the focus will be to widen our portfolio with one harvested rosé based on Cabernet Franc and a young and fruit-forward Malbec from our own grapes. We hope for a great harvest in March next year. More soon… Read more...

HDR photo shootout at “Mercado Del Progreso”, Caballito, Buenos Aires

Adjacent to the “Primera Junta” subway station, in the corner of Rivadavia and Barco Centenera, is the “Mercado Del Progreso“, a landmark in the neighbourhood of “Caballito”, one of the most traditional “barrios” of Buenos Aires. The Mercado has been a meeting point for Caballito regulars since its opening in 1889. Today, it retains much of the original charm of its metallic structure and its iconic central ceiling window.

In the morning hours of a regular weekday, Mercado Del Progreso is one of those ideal places for a photo shootout of urban activity in the midst of a historical site.

The selection below was taken with the Canon EOS 5D MarkIII and EF 16-35mm and EF 24-105mm zoom lenses. All six are high dynamic range (HDR) images, merged from 5 different original exposures using HDR Efex Pro 2 from the Nik plugin collection. They were further processed with the Color Efex Pro 4 module to enhance structure, and the  Silver Efex Pro 2 for B&W conversion. Read more...