Our last day in Cafayate, we visited a winery right in town called Porvenir de los Andes - the Future of the Andes. We toured and tasted with the winemaker, and while we are concerned that the intense heat and lack of water in the Salta area of Argentina makes the future of winemaking there slightly questionable, he does not anticipate a problem anytime soon. (He really believes in the winery's name!) Unfortunately I didn't take notes during this tasting, and I neglected to write my impressions down afterwards, so I can't be too specific but I do recall that I liked all the wines. The Torrontes was classic and the reds were intense, flavorful, and smooth. I do remember that their spittoons were unlike any I'd seen before - instead of being empty they were filled with oak shavings, so you didn't make a mess when using them, and the scent of the oak was a nice palate refresher in between wines. Also, we confirmed an interesting practice in the making of rose, and I think it probably holds true for other parts of Argentina and Chile as well: many wineries "bleed" off a percentage of their fermenting red grape juice to allow the remaining juice to have maximum contact with the skins during fermentation, resulting in a more intense extraction of color, flavor, and structural components; we suspect that many roses originate from this bleed, or sangria.
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