Producer
One of the most original winemaking projects of recent years, Masi Tupungato is a fusion of Venetian technique and Argentine terroir. The estate – Vigneti La Arboleda – consists of 140 hectares, of which eighty are currently planted with both Argentine varieties (Malbec and Torrontés) and Venetian grapes (Corvina and Pinot Grigio).
Vineyard
Grapes for this wine are grown organically at an altitude of 950-1050 metres above sea level in the Tupungato Valley. The ground is stony, sandy and chalky with a good content of organic and mineral elements. Rainfall is very low, at 250mm, mostly occuring in summer downpours, and compared to most of Mendoza, nighttime temperatures are cooler here, giving fresher acidity.
Winery
The vinification technique used for the Passo Doble is a Masi speciality: double fermentation. After soft-pressing of the Malbec grapes, on-skin fermentation lasted sixteen days at 21-23ºC in stainless steel tanks. The second fermentation was induced with selected yeasts and used the whole Corvina grapes, given a brief appassimento treatment before crushing. This fermentation lasted fifteen days and was followed by the malolactic fermentation. The wine then spent nine months in French oak barriques, with thirty percent new wood.
