Argentina is home to the Bousquet Family of Domaine Bousquet. I was happy to have an opportunity to taste their wines once again over dinner with Anne Bousquet, the CEO and Co-founder of Domaine Bousquet. Anne spoke about the wines and how this French family came to Argentina.
The Bousquet Family hail from the city of Carcassonne in the South of France. They have 4 generations of history in winemaking but they felt that the future for them was in Argentina. Their passion is to produce wines of superior quality and this is what led them to Argentina to begin a new chapter.
A 1990 vacation in Argentina was all it took. For third-generation winemaker Jean Bousquet, it was love at first sight. The object of the Frenchman’s desire was the Gualtallary Valley, a scenic, remote, arid terrain high in the Tupungato district of the Uco Valley in Argentina’s Mendoza region, close to the border with Chile. Here, where the condors fly and not a vine in sight, Bousquet discovered his dream terroir, an ideal location in which to nurture organically-grown wines.
The estate consists of 240 hectares in Gualtallary, Tupungato, Uco Valley (Mendoza). The area has idyllic wine-growing conditions. The vineyard is situated in the Andes foothills at an altitude of 1200 meters/4000 feet above sea level. Due to their location, the vineyard benefits from a cool climate and constant fresh air.
With altitudes ranging up to 5,249 feet, Gualtallary occupies the highest extremes of Mendoza’s viticultural limits. Wine cognoscenti today recognize it as the source of some of Mendoza’s finest wines. But when Bousquet first arrived, it was virgin territory: tracts of semi-desert, nothing planted, no water above ground, no electricity and a single dirt track by way of access. Locals dismissed the area as too cold for growing grapes. Bousquet, on the other hand, reckoned he’d found the perfect blend between his French homeland and the New World (sunny, with high natural acidity and a potential for relatively fruit-forward wines).
Bousquet’s daughter, economist Anne Bousquet, and her husband, Labid Al Ameri, a successful trader with Fidelity in Boston, found themselves increasingly drawn to the cause, including the opportunity it offered to put their shared philosophy on sustainability into effect. After a 2002 trip to Argentina, the couple began to invest in Domaine Bousquet. In 2005, Al Ameri joined his father-in-law full time, helping with the construction of the winery. Anne continued her work as an economist, before joining the company in 2008. In 2009, the couple moved to Tupungato full-time, assuming full ownership of Domaine Bousquet in 2011.
Domaine Bousquet is the largest organic and biodynamic wine producer in Argentina.
Gran Bousquet Organic Chardonnay 2022 made from 100% Chardonnay. Anne said this wine began life in the first vineyard planted by the Bousquet family in 2000 after their arrival from France. In the high desert Uco Valley in Argentina’s Mendoza region, the site captured their imagination on account of its sand (low-fertility sandy soil makes for elegant wines) and access to water.
Grapes here are the last to be harvested, ensuring more richness and body. The Gran Bousquet Line integrates the four soil types found in the vineyards: sandy, sandy calcareous, stony calcareous, and super stony from estate vineyards in Tupungato, Alto Gualtallary by the foothills of the Andes at 4,000 ft/1200 meters altitude. This approach allows for the creation of diverse components, offering a variety of styles and possibilities for blending. Because of the dryness of the area and its phylloxera-resistant sandy soil, farming organically at Domaine Bousquet from day one was both possible and smart.
Three main factors differentiate this vineyard and its terroir. The first is the near constant breezes from the Andes to the west help mitigate heat-stress in this desert-like climate with its huge day/night temperature differentials. The sandy soils which result in low fertility for desirable vine stress and yet are permeable for good drainage. In addition, the prevalence of groundwater, with rainfall averaging a scant 8-inches or less per year, groundwater from Andes snowmelt is vital to irrigate the vines drop-by-drop. In addition to the unique terroir, roots of organically-grown plants penetrate deeper, absorbing the trace minerals that give the wines their authentic local taste.
Anne said that organic farming is healthier for the environment and, vitally, for the people who tend the vines.The grapes are hand-harvested the first week of March. The bunches are pressed at low temperatures. Fermentation is with native yeast in oak barrels for 30 days. The wine is aged for 6 months in French oak barrels. It has hints of citrus fruit and pear with a touch of coconut and a hint of vanilla. $25
Gaia Organic Rosé 2023 made from 100% Pinot Noir from estate vineyards in Tupungato, Alto Gualtallary by the foothills of the Andes at 1,200 m/4,000 ft. The vineyards enjoy a marked thermal amplitude. The soil is gravel and sand.
Anne said the wines have been crafted with French winemaking sensibility and made from 100% organic grapes. Intense sun exposure and huge shifts in day-to-night temperatures combine to create a perfect marriage of Old and New World characteristics. There is an early morning manual harvest during the second and third week of February. Full cluster press to maximize aroma extraction followed by a 5-day cold maceration at 6°C. Fermentation at a maximum temperature of 13°C for 30 days. This is clear pink wine with hints of strawberry, raspberry, orange zest, floral notes, a touch of melon and good acidity. The wine is named for Gaia, the Greek goddess of the earth. $20
Virgen Usda Organic Malbec 2923 is not only made from organic fruit but has no sulfites added, thereby qualifying for fully organic USDA certification. It is vinified from 100% estate-grown fruit grown at a cool 4,000 feet in the foothills of the Andes. This purest expression of the local terroir with a mix of sandy/gravel soils credited for Domaine Bousquet’s signature “Naturally Elegant Wines,” benefits from brilliant sunlight and 50⸰F temperature swings between day and night, leading to super-flavorful, fresh-tasting grapes. Manual harvest takes place the last week of March and the first week of April. There is cold maceration at 10C for 48 hour. 50% of fermentation is with indigenous yeast and 50% with selected yeasts at a controlled temperature for maximum of 25 to 27 C for 10 days. The wine has hints of black fruit, blackberries, blueberries and black cherries with a touch of plum and a note of violets.
Anne said this is Argentina’s signature grape presented in its full, unadorned glory: no added sulfates, no oak, just fresh, briar red and plummy blackberry and fruit flavors. $25
AMERI Ameri Single Vineyard Organic Red Blend 2021 made from 60% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot and 5% Syrah. The wine is named for Domaine Bousquet co-owner Labid al Ameri. Ameri is not just “single vineyard” but “specific cluster,” and made only in exceptional years. At 1,257m/4,125 ft, the highest of the estate, the certified-organic vineyard, located in Gualtallary in the Andean foothills, gets a perfect combination of near constant intense daytime sunlight and huge day/night temperature differentials. The result is fruit with increased levels of sugar and acid, flavor, and aromatics. The soil is sandy with a presence of stone and sandy loam with calcareous inlays. The higher deepness of the terroir helps the vines to reach the lower layers of the soil, improving their contact with different minerals of Gualtallary. Grapes are harvested during the last week of March and beginning of April. Careful hand selection of the bunches and grapes. Fermentation at maximum temperature between 25°C/77°F and 28°C/82°F for 14 days and 20 days of maceration in oak barrels. The fermentation temperature is kept low, allowing the extraction of intense aromas. 100% malolactic. Aged in French oak for 12 months. This is a complex wine with black fruit flavors of blackberry and blueberry and a touch of violets. $36
Domaine Bousquet has different lines of wine all of which are well made and sold at a very good price.