$10.99 at Crush Wine & Spirits in Bryant, Arkansas (AR)
Intense purple color. Aromas of floral, spice, and black fruit. In the mouth, medium body, soft, fresh, and well-balanced.
The grapes come from El Alto Vineyard located in Ugarteche in the southern part of Luján de Cuyo.
Located in Ugarteche, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, Doña Paula is an estate winery that produces wines from its own vineyards. The winery began in 1990, when a period of research on the different Argentinean terroirs began. Doña Paula acquired its first vineyard in 1997 in Ugarteche, Lujan de Cuyo, a region in the foothills of the Andes Mountains that is famous for its Malbec. In 2002, Doña Paula began exporting into the US, UK and the Netherlands, and is now one of the leading Argentinean wineries that exports premium wines; with 97% of the winery’s production exported to more than 60 countries.
A key event in 1997 that sped up Doña Paula’s development was when Grupo Claro, a Chilean company, began to buy Doña Paula property. Grupo Claro which owned Santa Rita winery in Chile, decided to expand its wine business into Argentina. The conditions in Argentina’s Mendoza region contained the ideal and unique terroir which allow winemakers to fulfil their dreams of creating sophisticated and immaculately structured wines. The Claro Group’s first investment in the Argentine was to acquire the Ugarteche Estate. The estate encompassed approximately 140 hectares (346 acres) of old Malbec and Chardonnay vines. The following year, the expansion continued and Tupungato Estate was obtained.
In 1999, Doña Paula had its maiden harvest. However, hail storms in 2000 and 2001 delayed production until 2002 when the winery launched onto the international market with its early exports going to the United Kingdom, the United States, and continental Europe. Annual sales continued to grow and its wines received international attention, showing the winery to be an emerging player in the Argentinean wine industry. Doña Paula soon developed a trademark style of wines that consisted of complexity which was characterized by a unique fresh fruit concentration. It received its first prestigious international accolade of “Value Brand of the Year” by Wine and Spirits magazine in 2004.
Subsequent acquisitions of additional estates insured that Doña Paula wines consisted purely of estate-grown grapes and by 2006 Doña Paula ranked 12th out of more than 300 Argentinean wine exporters. The following years allowed the winery to expand by exporting to more countries. Currently, there are over 54 countries offering Doña Paula wines in restaurants and on their wine store shelves. The winery received certification for its sustainable farming practices in 2018.
Marcos Ferández is the head winemaker at Doña Paula. He is from Mendoza originally and has previously worked for other producers including Paul Hobbs and Chandon in California and Bodega Norton in Argentina.