Producer
In 1885, the Buenos Aires to Mendoza railway opened, cementing the significance of this emerging wine-growing region high in the Andean foothills. Ten years later, Edmund Norton planted the first vines in Mendoza’s Luján de Cuyo district. At 900-1,100 metres, the altitude moderates the temperature, causing an extended ripening season, and also exposes the vines to more ultraviolet light, which encourages the development of colour and tannin in the black-skinned varieties. The result is whites packed with vibrant flavour and good natural acidity, and well-structured, food-friendly reds.
Vineyard
Privada is selected from vines between fifty and eighty years old, growing in vineyards at up to 1,100 metres above sea level. Grapes are hand picked and selected into twenty-kilo baskets.
Winery
The must was given five days’ cold maceration at 8-10oC, then fermented with selected yeasts for seven days at 28oC. The wine spent 25-30 days on skins before racking to French oak barrels (twenty percent new wood) for sixteen months’ ageing. It spent a further year in bottle before release.
