Notes from Perdriel
Longer writing on the things that do not fit on a label: what grows on its own roots in Mendoza, what this particular piece of Luján de Cuyo does to Malbec, and what a vineyard planted in 1920 asks of the people who look after it.
What grows on its own roots
Most of the wine world grows on American rootstock. Luján de Cuyo mostly does not, and a vineyard planted in 1920 is the reason I had to learn why.
Flood irrigation in the vineyard
Thirty kilometres of earth channels, one turno a week and meltwater from four thousand metres: why this vineyard has not been converted to drip.
Why Perdriel makes different Malbec
Nine hundred and fifty metres, an old riverbed of stones under a metre of sand, and cold nights that arrive on schedule.
Farming a vineyard planted in 1920
We took the trellising off, put the water back where it belonged, and pulled out nothing at all.
Descorchados 2026, and what it asks for
What South America's most read wine guide actually measures, and why Revelation of the Year is the one category you cannot lobby for.