Agua de Piedra
Mendoza is one of the greatest wine regions of the world. Wide open spaces with nothing but vines, mountain grandeur and blue skies, and some of the best winery architecture in the world. The premium grapes selected for Agua de Piedra are from old yielding vineyards on glacial deposit soils. All the vineyards were single trellised and naturally farmed under ideal conditions. The grapes were cool macerated in order to retain fruit characters and color. They were then fermented for two weeks and the finished wine was racked in oak barrels to age for six months. Agua de Piedra always represents the pure essence of Mendoza, it pairs perfectly with grilled meats, medium to strong cheese or simply on its own.
At the heart of the Andes Mountain range, Mendoza is located in the western central part of the country, in the Cuyo region. Mendoza’s wine region is over 350,000 acres (nearly the size of Illinois) of planted vineyards and produces nearly two-thirds of the country’s wine. Argentina’s most highly rated Malbec wines originate from Mendoza’s high-altitude wine regions of Lujan de Cuyo and the Uco Valley. These areas are in the foothills of the Andes mountains, with elevations of between 2,800 and 5,000 feet.
The soil of the Mendoza wine region is primarily alluvial composed of loose sand over clay. Mountain rivers provide ample water supplies from melted glaciers in the Andes. Nearly 17,000 boreholes are scattered throughout the region, providing the equivalent of an additional two rivers' worth of water flow to the area. A system of irrigation channels, canals and reservoirs (some dating to the 16th century) help sustain viticulture in this semi-arid desert region.
