Sick of Malbec?!?!

[Eternalnewbie]

About a year and a half ago I was thinking about the idea of importing and exporting wines. I talked to a wholesaler and he said that Argentineans won't buy imported wines. They're nationalist and loyal to Argentina. Hence, no foreign wines. It's a pity.

Is it really nationalism, or might it not be price? I think economic issues usually trump patriotism.

 

[mini]

Is it really nationalism, or might it not be price? I think economic issues usually trump patriotism.

I'm sure the high import taxes (along with shipping costs, etc) make the price out of reach for the casual "oh, let's try that" sort of sale.

 

[mendozanow]

Sick of Malbec?

That is like being sick of life itself.

 

[Lucas]

mendozanow, browsing about this subject I want to ask you something that maybe you know about, what's the name or variety 'in English' of that wine with a deep and distinctively sweet flavor of the (uva chinche) something along the line of "vino de la costa"..thanks

 

[Napoleon]

This is a great answer.......I own a store and have some imported candy items. When people see them at first they are all excited to buy them, however after a few times, they go back to the nationally produced goods. Most prefer things that they are used to and now and then will look for something new but not stick with it for very long.

Do you carry DOVE DARK CHOCOLATE?

I try domestically produced dark chocolate on a fairly regular basis, and yet I always prefer Dove of the local stuff. (Chocolate here is worse than the pizza. Even the stuff from Bariloche isn't that great.)

Dove Dark Chocolate?

Avisame

 

[mendozanow]

mendozanow, browsing about this subject I want to ask you something that maybe you know about, what's the name or variety 'in English' of that wine with a deep and distinctively sweet flavor of the (uva chinche) something along the line of "vino de la costa"..thanks

Haha, LOL, just because I live in Mendoza doesn´t make me a wine expert, although I do try to broaden my horizons.

I believe the variety you refer to is that type which grows well in cool wet climates, the CONCORD, the little blue variety with the somewhat sour but great taste, that favorite jam or jelly you loved to put in your peanut butter and jam sandwiches when you were a kid because it tasted so much like candy. I know it is one of the only grapes you can grow in Central Canada where I originally hail from, and many people use it as a snack grape. The scientific name is vitis labrusca .


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_(grape)

En nuestro país sus híbridos se usan mucho debido a que esta especie se adapta bien a suelos húmedos y arcillosos. Presenta buena resistencia a filoxera pero tiene el inconveniente de su bajo enraizamiento y su poca afinidad con la especie Vitis vinifera.
Cabe agregar que también existen otras especies americanas puras, pero de menor importancia en nuestro país, tales como :Vitis longiís, Vítis labrusca, empleada para producir vinos de uva chinche con sabor particular (sui-generis)

from:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...m+uva+chinche&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=gmail

However, in the central east of Argentina, including BA, I think "uva chinche" is applied not only to that varietal, but also to a whole series of small grapes (and of different colours)grown in that area. Could be wrong.

Chinche is slang for something small or annoying, and also means a small bug like a bedbug. It also has the connotation of something less than luxurious, for poor or common people. It also used as a word meaning thumbtack, pin or something small used to attach something.

 

[Lucas]

Haha, LOL, just because I live in Mendoza doesn´t make me a wine expert, although I do try to broaden my horizons.

However, in the central east of Argentina, including BA, I think "uva chinche" is applied not only to that varietal, but also to a whole series of small grapes (and of different colours)grown in that area. Could be wrong.

How can this be possible? with a mendozanow nickname you couldn't be short at least than a sommelier...

I've been reading some expert advice on another thread and associated the advice given with your nickname, maybe because of the mendoza thingy hahaha, please accept my apologies.

Anyway thanks for your prompt reply, and yes you are right on your comments on this (uva chinche) I did same research before on this grape variety by their popular name and I agree with you that the CONCORD variety could be the right one but there are so many more grapes with similar characteristics that to decipherer the mystery and pin them down to the bottle with their English name really isn't that easy...oh well, sooner or later I'll find out, thanks again for your detailed research.

 

[French jurist]

I am a wine lover and I had the chance, in France, to taste expensive bottles (Mouton Rothschild, Mission Haut Brion, etc ... bottles around 500 USD).

When I arrived here in 2003, I discovered how good are the cheap wines here (cheap ones : the one we find now around 20 to 40 pesos). And while it is possible to find in France good cheap wines, overall Argentine cheap wines are much better.

Nevertheless in 2003, due to the devaluation, I bought an expensive bottle of Catena Zapata (was 280 pesos in 2003, I guess the same bottle costs around 800 now) and I was not amazed at all, french expensive wines are way much better.

Speaking of imported wines here, I celebrated yesterday my birthday so I bought at Jumbo, one bottle of Chateau Signac 2001 (a french "cotes du rhone") for 150 pesos and a bottle of Fond de Cave 2005 "Réserve spéciale" for 95 pesos.
No need to say that the Fond de Cave was much better.

The 150 pesos french bottle is typically an export wine, and the same bottle can be found around 10 to 15 dollars in the US, therefore it is damn expensive here.
At Jumbo, apart of this french bottle, there were three other french wines and the same problem occurs : export wine, priced three or four times the US price tag.

Nevertheless my situation is particular since I'm french, so after all I enjoyed the french wine although it was priced too high.

I can understand the need for wines from abroad, it's just that it does not make sense economically at all to buy them, at least in Argentina.

 

[Eternalnewbie]

In South Africa there is a wine called "Goats do Roam." It's not bad, either.

 

[Davidglen77]

Do you carry DOVE DARK CHOCOLATE?

I try domestically produced dark chocolate on a fairly regular basis, and yet I always prefer Dove of the local stuff. (Chocolate here is worse than the pizza. Even the stuff from Bariloche isn't that great.)

Dove Dark Chocolate?

Avisame

I don't carry Dove dark chocolate, as it is not imported here. I do know the product and it is quite good, however in my opinion there is plenty of Argentine chocolate that is good quality and good tasting. Much of the cacao here is imported from Brazil and Africa just like the chocolate made in the US, so the only difference here might be some of the other ingredients in the chocolate or method of preparation. Some of the chocolate that Felfort produces is very good tasting.