Berger on wine: Domaine Bousquet plants European roots in Argentina

Many of the world’s wine regions can become typecast, which can cause confusion for some wine buyers.

Examples abound. Most people think Germany is home only to some of the world’s finest rieslings. Yet those in the know would say, accurately, that Germany also makes great pinot noirs as well.

The same is true of New Zealand. Sauvignon blanc is its worldwide calling card, but now some special New Zealand regions are known for growing sensational pinot noirs and even syrahs, and Kiwi cabernets are fast gaining recognition.

And although most people appreciate Australia’s big, rich, bold shirazes from warmer regions such as Barossa and Hunter valleys, a distinctively different style of shiraz is popular in Australia today - a cool-climate version from Northern Victoria and areas like Mount Langi Ghiran.

So it wasn’t surprising when I met Anne Bousquet recently to taste some of her family winery’s Argentine wines and found them atypical of that nation’s usual warm-climate personality.

Her story starts in a traditional way, at her father Jean Bousquet’s vineyard and winery in Southwest France’s Carcasonne, working as a preteen in the winery. After graduating from high school, Anne earned a degree in economics at the University of Toulouse, then a master’s in applied economics.

At that point, her father chose to sell the family’s French vineyards and winery and begin a search for a cool site to restart his life in wine.

While visiting Argentina’s Mendoza region in the early 1990s, Jean discovered the relatively remote, higher-altitude Uco Valley spot of Tupungato, in the foothills of one of the Southern Hemisphere’s highest mountain ranges.

A mile high in altitude, the land here is colder and riskier to farm than is the warmer and more widely planted Mendoza Valley floor, which makes up more than 80 percent of Argentina’s wine production.

In Tupungato, Jean founded his European-styled project, Domaine Bousquet, and began making wines that were not like the richer, bolder valley floor vines of so many Argentine wineries. In 1997, he acquired nearly 1,000 acres of land in the remote Gualtallary Valley.

Today Anne says with a laugh: “The real estate broker told my father, ‘You know you are making the biggest mistake of your life, don’t you?’”

Today the family has 667 acres of grapevines and a modern winery on a windy site, in sight of snow-covered hills. This colder climate provides more of the varietal spice notes and a bit more of the continental climate that Jean preferred in his wines. The style also captivated Anne.

In 2005, she took what she thought would be sabbatical from her successful U.S. career in economics, moving with her husband and young daughter to Brussels to help promote the European launch of the first vintage of Domaine Bousquet wines, amounting to one pallet or 256 cases.

The launch was an overwhelming success and by 2009 Anne made the big leap, taking over the winery and moving again, this time to tiny Tupungato.

The style of Bousquet’s wines may not be as well understood by Argentine wine lovers as they are in other areas. As a result, only 5 percent of the winery’s production is sold domestically. The remainder is sold in more cosmopolitan areas around the world - on the European continent and in the United States.

Being typecast as an Argentine winery, however, has meant that prices have to be kept as low as many other Argentine wines. This makes every wine in the Bousquet line a relative bargain.

A 2016 Domaine Bousquet Reserve Chardonnay ($20) and a 2016 Reserve Pinot Noir ($18) are excellent values. The latter wine is one of the few South American pinots I have tasted that has excellent varietal character, proof that pinot grows best in a cool climate.

One of the best red wines in the Bousquet line is a malbec, using the same grape variety that has defined fine Argentine wines for two decades.

Bousquet’s 2013 Malbec Grande Reserve ($25) has an intriguing aroma that displays precursors of the black pepper aroma (rotundone) generally only seen in cold-climate red wines. It is rich and beautifully textured and more refined than many Argentine malbecs from warmer areas. It sells in many locations at about $20 or less. Already five years old, it needs no additional aging.

Wine of the Week: 2016 Domaine Bousquet Malbec Reserve ($16) - The black pepper and fruit aromas here are more youthful than the prior wine with black cherry and blackberry, with exuberant mid-palate fruit that has the juiciness of zinfandel. Usually seen for $14 or less.