Pick up an Argentine
wine abroad and it`s likely to be Finca Flichman. Charlie
O´malley examines its excellency
When Portuguese winemaker Luis Cabral de Almeida
strolled through the flourishing vineyards of Bodega Flichman
in Barrancas, he was impressed by what he saw. Here were 45-year
old syrah vines showed all the health and vigour a winemaker could
wish for and the grapes hung with lush promise. Nowadays winemakers
and agronomists use all the technological tools available to achieve
these results, including computerised drip irrigation and satellite
imaging. Yet here was a traditional vineyard with an old fashioned
parral system and basic flood irrigation network. And yet the
results were more than anybody could wish for. Impressed but perplexed,
Cabral de Almeida turned to Antonio, the old vineyard worker accompanying
him and asked him how did he do it, particularly how he managed
to know the right amount of water to use. Antonio, who´d worked
these fields for over forty years, replied with a smile:
“You do not need to go to school to understand what a woman needs.”
Experience and wisdom are words you can apply to Bodega Flichman,
one of the oldest and most repected wineries in Mendoza. It all
began with a teenage Russian called Sami Flichman, fresh from
chilly Lodz in modern day Poland. He stepped off the boat in Buenos
Aires in 1889 but immediately tangoed out of Tango City and chose
the sunnier climes of Mendoza. The city was in the first flush
of a wine boom and Flichman found himself in the right place at
the right time. He immediately invested in a winery called La
Banderita in Guaymallen. A tailor by trade he also started a department
store called La Gran Casa Colorado on San Martin. It became the
Harrods of Mendoza with all the city´s great and good flocking
there in search of curtains, mattresses and lace doilies. As successful
as this venture was, Flichman recognised that Mendoza´s future
lay in wine. He invested in vineyards and bodegas, in particular
the Barrancas property in Southern Maipu. He also opened a bottling
plant in Buenos Aires as it was easier to move wine across the
country in giant tanks and have it bottled under different labels
in the capital – its main market.
“Caballero de la Cepa
is recognised by many as Argentina´s first quality wine”
His legacy continued with his son Isaac. As his father foresaw
the growth in bulk wines, Isaac foresaw its demise. He was on
of the first bodegueros to see the writing on the walls of the
huge concrete tanks and to move towards fine wine production.
The result; Flichman´s Caballero de la Cepa is recognised by many
as Argentina´s first quality wine that could compete on the world
stage.. Again Isaac Flichman proved he was one step ahead of all
others (indeed several decades ahead of all others) when he started
exporting in the late 60s and early 70s. Success brings its own
problems however and the winery attracted the attention of some
big corporate players. Heublein (the owners of Smirnoff) bought
a share in the mid 70´s and imposed their will. This together
with the disastrous economical policies of the military dictatorship
– namely the infamous tablita of finance minister Martin de Hoz,
meant the winery lost some of its edge and found it difficult
to compete with other New World wine producers. The Werthein corporation
bought the winery in 1983 and Isaac Flichman remained as honorary
president until he died in 1989.
“They chose Argentina,
particularly Flichman to do so”
Here the story takes a new vine-like twist. The
Guedes family are Portugals´s biggest winemaker and responsible
for putting the famous Mateus Rose on our tables, along with Sandeman
sherry and port. Their company Sogrape decided to expand into
New World wines in the mid 90´s and they chose Argentina, particularly
Flichman to do so. With a 7 million-dollar investment they transformed
the Barrancas winery into a state of the art facility with a 10
million-litre cellar. The pink-hued adobe building is one of the
most beautiful to visit in Mendoza and is one of the few to open
at weekends.
Flichman now export to over 33 countries and are one of the four
big Argentine wineries blazing a trail across the global market.
Along with Norton, Trapiche and Etchart, Flichman is appearing
on wine shelves the world over, and dare I say their wine appears
in the wine stores of the old patriarch´s hometown – chilly Lodz
in modern day Poland.
