Is there such a thing as love at first sight in the wine world? Or, better put, at first sip? Well, that’s more or less what happened with Ribera del Cuarzo Puro, a vintage blend from Valle Azul in Patagonia, which has already become the most expensive wine in Argentina before even hitting the market.
We call it love at first sip because a Chinese magnate fell so much in love with this wine that he didn’t hesitate to set a price for it… the highest ever for an Argentine wine! No less than $1,000 for a magnum bottle. But the story is richer than that: Mr. Lee (as the billionaire is known) fell in love not just with the wine, but with the landscape, its culture, and its people.
This is the story…
It all began in 2018, during a trip to China, where Felipe Menéndez, director of the Ribera del Cuarzo winery, accompanied his father to the launching of a cargo ship at a large shipyard on the outskirts of Shanghai. With deep roots in Patagonia, his family had been engaged in overseas shipping for generations.
“After the launching, there was a meal where Mr. Lee, a businessman who had made a great fortune selling granite during China’s construction boom, expressed his interest in visiting Argentina,” recalls Felipe. “He had in mind producing food with Argentine raw materials, so we offered to organize a visit to the Valle de Río Negro to meet fruit and wine producers.”
Mr. Lee eventually visited Patagonia, and after touring various producers, he was invited to visit the Araucana vineyard, in Valle Azul. “The trip was enough for him to fall in love with Patagonia, its landscapes, and its people,” Felipe assures.
So much so that the businessman returned the next year with friends, and then in the years that followed. His love for Patagonia and its wines grew with each visit. “In time, when the winery undertook a business trip to the Asian region, we decided to stop by Shanghai to offer him a private tasting at his home. We brought several wines, including a new one that was still in the cellar, not yet released to the market.”
“Ribera del Cuarzo Puro is a blend of four vintages (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), primarily Merlot grapes, with a small addition of Malbec and Petit Verdot,” says Felipe Menéndez. “It was made with barrels that stood out for their quality and expression from the rest of the harvest. It’s one barrel per year, so there are only 600 magnum bottles (1.5 liters) of this wine.”
Mr. Lee was amazed by the unprecedented vintage blend. So much so that, upon returning from his Asian tour, the Ribera del Cuarzo Foreign Trade team was met with a surprise. “We had received a transfer of a significant sum of money from Mr. Lee,” says Rosario Langdon, the team leader. “We asked him, and he said it was a deposit for the vintage blend we had given him to taste.”
The winery accepted Mr. Lee’s deposit but clarified that they would only sell part of the batch, as the idea was to present the wine first in Argentina. “We were planning to launch this wine at a high price, but not as high as the one Mr. Lee ended up setting,” Rosario admits.
For now, the 600 bottles of Ribera del Cuarzo Puro rest in the winery’s cellar in Valle Azul. Half will be sent to Mr. Lee, and the other half will be distributed among Argentina, England, and the United States. They are expected to go on sale mid-year.
Its label will feature a realistic illustration that showcases the unique “barda” landscape of this Patagonian terroir, which can proudly display having secured the en primeur sale of Argentina’s most expensive wine.
