PAGES (43) March 15 2010
The Caligiore family bought the 17-acre Finca La Marolina in Mendoza’s Luján de Cuyo district in 1969. This vineyard had been planted to Malbec since 1930, but the family sold off its grapes to area vintners until third-generation Gustavo Caligiore took the reins in 2001. In 2000, the 35-acre Finca Cayanta vineyard was purchased to add Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Bonarda, and Syrah to Caligiore’s production. The family established an organic winery three years later and, in 2007, constructed a larger building with a 130,000-liter capacity to accommodate its growing business.
All of Caligiore’s wine is produced under international organic standards, and 95% is exported. Current offerings include organic Malbec, Bonarda, and Syrah wines, with a total annual production of 5,000 cases. Plans for an organic Torrontés and a Malbec rosé are in the works.
Gustavo Caligiore is now the company’s CEO and chief winemaker. After graduating from the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo with an industrial engineering degree, he left the pipeline-building and logistics industries in 2001 to take over the family business and to work as logistics manager for Bodegas Nieto Senetiner in Mendoza. Having finished the required coursework for his master’s degrees in logistics and in viticulture and enology, he is currently writing his final theses.
Sommelier Journal asked Gustavo Caligiore, “How does organic viticulture help preserve the character of old vines in Mendoza?”
Organic agriculture has many goals. The first is environmental sustainability: by preserving the fertility of soils and the quality of water and air through natural equilibrium and biodiversity, the result is a well-nourished and healthier plant and animal ecosystem. The second goal is social responsibility. Organic farming requires a great deal of human labor, which makes humans a key ingredient in managing land and crops in a way respectful of ancient regional practices. There are no technological packages that fit organic agriculture; dedicated organic farmers learn to use their labor and skills as “shepherds” of the land they are taking care of. Monitoring the vineyards and reading the plants’ needs every day allow organic farmers to preserve equilibrium in their microclimates. The third goal is to promote safety and nutritious food production. By using no pesticides or herbicides, we help create an environment where there is no possibility of contamination. Our vines grow in a balanced ecosystem, together with many other species of plants and insects, where pests and illnesses are auto-controlled (not eliminated) and kept below the threshold of economic damage naturally, without using any chemicals. We find a well-nurtured, organically grown plant produces tastier, more nutritious food.
Our soils are permanently covered, letting small microorganisms do their job in mobilizing nutrients and decomposing organic matter. The vines grow deep to take in those nutrients in proper and timely amounts. It is completely different when you fertilize a vineyard: in essence, what you are offering the land is a huge amount of particular nutrients that induce a disequilibrium in the plants, making them more susceptible to illnesses and pests and, of course, modifying the naturally occurring conditions in the ecosystem. In addition, we have found that when you use pesticides, you are killing not only the pests in the vineyard, but also all the beneficial insects and organisms that keep the ecosystem stable. Pesticides, in many cases, are like using a large phone book to swat a fly—you will likely kill the fly, but the question remains: what damage will you do to the room while chasing it? In some parts of the world, the plants grown are not the natural inhabitants, but have been introduced to that environment. Our job as vintners is to preserve the equilibrium by monitoring the system, planning ahead, and maturing the grapes slowly under the best environmental conditions to ensure a high-quality, complex, concentrated representation of our vineyards in a glass of wine.
Please understand, going organic—and following through with it—is a hard job. Committed people in the vineyard and winery are ultimately the only successful tool, and I am lucky to be surrounded by them at Caligiore. When you drink a wine from our old vines, you may like it or not—this I leave up to your own palate. But what I can assure you is that you are drinking the direct expression of the grapes grown in a natural and equilibrated environment, where ancient practices and modern efforts have been focused into preserving that expression from the roots to the grapes and finally into your glass. We practice this stewardship of fruit in both the vineyard and at the winery. What we achieve is what the land has to offer, with normal weather variations from year to year. Our motto and the words we live by at Caligiore are: “The soul of the land turns into wine!”
GUSTAVO CALIGIORE
CEO/Winemaker
Caligiore Organic Vineyards
Videla Correas 381
5500 Mendoza
Argentina
+54-261-4303521
www.caligiore.com.ar
Importer: Marquee Artisan Wines
www.marqueeimports.com
