Bodega Noemia - the story:
"We like to think of ourselves as wine farmers", Hans Vinding-Diers says to me upon our first meeting in Toronto. "We try to let the wine make itself and just not mess it up". He doesn't exactly use the word "mess", but you get the idea.
Hans and his partner, Italian Countess Noemi Marone Cinzano are the owners of Bodega Noemia, one of the top (if not the top) wine estates in Patagonia (Rio Negro). Smack dab in the middle of the desert, I wonder how anything could grow here, with the exception of brush grass and weeds. But as I cross the Rio Negro on the way to the estate, I see the attraction: a giant river snaking through the desert, from the Andes all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The Rio Negro provides water to the entire region, and Noemi and Hans pump the water all the way to the estate.
 We have been working with Bodega Noemia for the past 5 years in Ontario, and with great success. The wines are beautifully crafted in an old-world style, and they pair wonderfully with food. "A Lisa", their entry-level Malbec (if you can even call it that) is a wonderful wine that exhibits Bordeaux-like herbal and mineral notes, while keeping a core of dark black fruit. It is a highly versatile wine, able to be consumed in the first few years of life, or cellared for a few more for the patient wine buyer.
This is our first release of the 2009 wines from Bodega Noemia, and we can say with confidence that they are the greatest Noemia wines yet. |
