Cara Sur Moscatel Blanco

Whether for recreational or religious interests, both the conquistadors and the religious orders were the main promoters of vitis vinifera in the New World. That means some European varieties, like the Moscatel Blanco, became part of a group known as Criollo varieties. Recovering the vinification of these very special grapes is the main aim of the Argentine Cara Sur project.

Pancho Bugallo, Sebastián Zuccardi, Marcela Manini and Nuria Añó have been working on this adventure since early 2010. They started in Pancho’s father’s garage (anywhere was fine so they could start as soon as possible), and little by little the project has been growing and becoming successful until they set up their winery in Barril, in the San Juan province (Cuyo region), right in the centre of Argentina. Traditional varieties and winemaking methods are the two key building blocks this project uses as its foundation. The grapes are grown in Paraje Hilario, in the Calingasta Valley, where these four are in charge of a total of 10 hectares, on deep, pebbly soils with abundant quartz. The vineyards are old (more than 50 years old), so their growth and cultivation are carefully tended to millimetre by millimetre, limiting the use of agrochemicals and doing everything by hand.

Cara Sur Moscatel Blanco is destemmed and fermented on the skins, without temperature control, in concrete eggs. At this point, the presence of native yeasts, responsible for starting fermentation, is essential. Cara Sur Moscatel Blanco is aged in these same cement tanks for nine months.

Cara Sur is a project that emerged during college. The four of them were the first to have the courage to step out. Are you brave enough to take a sip of Cara Sur Moscatel Blanco?