Experience – Finca Decero – Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.
- Address: Bajo las Cumbres 9003 Agrelo, Mendoza CP 5509, Argentina (Google Maps)
- Distance from Mendoza: 37 km / 23 miles
- Hours: Monday – Friday 8:30 am – 5:30 pm, Saturday 10 am – 4 pm
- How to Arrive: By car
- Finca Decero Website
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone Number: +54 261 524 47 47
- Ideal Month(s): October – May
Finca Decero has become recognized as one of the highest quality vineyards in all of Mendoza, as well as one of the most highly regarded producers in Argentina. All wines come from the single Finca Decero vineyard, with the winery focusing on producing quality Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, among other wines.
Decero, which means ‘from scratch,’ was developed Thomas Schmidheiny, a Swiss billionaire businessman, and the former chairman of cement manufacturer Holcim. The winery was born out of the Schmidheiny family’s love affair with wine. Winemaking in the family dates back to Thomas’ grandparents in Switzerland. Just as Napa inspired Thomas’ mother Adda in the 1970s, the Agrelo sub-appellation in Mendoza captured Thomas’ heart and mind while traveling over the Andes into Argentina in the 1990s. Agrelo is now perhaps considered the source of Argentina’s finest red wines. After visiting the region, Thomas instinctively knew that he had found the place to continue the family legacy and to handcraft wines whose allure would lie in being true to their origin. Once a desolate piece of land in the foothills of the Andes, absent of everything but shrubs, Finca Decero is now a one-of-a-kind vineyard where each vine is nurtured by hand and the winemaking is without compromise.
The estate has followed an ‘a mano,’ or ‘by hand,’ approach that is sensitive to natural differences, sustainable, and human. Finca Decero’s philosophy is to tread lightly in an environment the family has come to know intimately, almost inch-by-inch, and to allow the unique natural attributes of the Remolinos vineyard and of Agrelo to shine through in the wines. The vineyard at the estate is named “Remolinos” after the tiny whirlwinds in the area that thread their way along the vines, keeping the grapes dry and in perfect condition. The 110 hectare estate was planted in 2000 for Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot (unusual for Argentine producers) and Tannat. All the Decero wines come from this single vineyard, and all are created from hand-picked fruit.
