Dear Member,
I miss the Valley when I’m not there.
I sit in traffic next to a strip mall here in South Florida, wishing I were astride the moody but fast El Bayo, galloping over the high plains, or carefully wending down into a quebrada in search of a small oasis.
As I write to you now, the grapes down south are shedding their green for dark purple, fattening up for the cosecha, which will be here before we know it. The 2024 harvest will be small, a result of the weather. Calchaquí winemaking is, as always, a precarious operation, carried out at the limits of viability.
South Florida, too, was once a marginal proposition—buffeted by hurricanes, infested with mosquitoes and alligators, rendered impassable by miles of mangrove. It is now the pinnacle of convenience and comfort.
But something is lost in removing that ever-present potential for oblivion—an element we seek to rediscover when we open a bottle from northwestern Argentina.
It is not the struggle against nature, nor an “edge” in the wine’s flavor.
It is the sense that God’s will is done, despite any other ideas or dogmas we might cling to.
One can ignore that truth, at least to a certain degree, amidst the din of a downtown strip.
Out on a high plain—where the air is thin, the sun is blinding, and help is hours away—it is incontrovertible.
Who speaks through the grape?
Nature?
The vine?
The Almighty Himself?
We don’t know. But the story told is nothing short of exhilarating.
In This Box
In this box, you will find six bottles:
Thibaut Delmotte Malbec Natural 2022
Sierra Lima Alfa Cabernet Franc 2022
Sunal Criolla Exploración 2021
Huichaira Vineyards Cielo Arriba 2019
Tacuil 33 de Dávalos 2020
Paco Puga Contemporáneo 2021
These wines come from some of the finest winemakers and terroirs in all of Argentina. Each has the potential to become an iconic presence in your cellar.
Salud,
Will Bonner
Founder, Bonner Private Wine Partnership
