ABOUT THE PRODUCER
The Bousquet family is from the city of Carcassonne, in the South of France and have 4 generations of history in the winemaking tradition. Jean Bousquet was on vacation in Argentina in 1990 when he found that the terroir of the remote, high altitude Gualtallary Valley, an arid terrain high in the Tupungato district of the Uco Valley in Argentina’s Mendoza region.
With altitudes ranging up to 5,249 feet, Gualtallary occupies the highest extremes of Mendoza’s viticultural limits. Back then, locals dismissed the area as too cold for growing grapes. Bousquet, on the other hand, reckoned he’d found the perfect blend between his French homeland and the New World (sunny, with high natural acidity and a potential for relatively fruit-forward wines). Now, Gualtallary Valley is recognize as the source of some of Mendoza’s finest wines.
Bousquet’s daughter Anne, an economist by training who as CEO now runs the company with her husband Labid Al Ameri, a successful trader with Fidelity in Boston and now President of the winery. Al Ameri joined the company in 2005, Anne in 2008. A year later they moved to Tupungato full-time, assuming full ownership of Domaine Bousquet in 2011.
Nowadays, Domaine Bousquet produces 4 million litres a year and export 95% of its volume to more than 50 countries and currently ranks in the top 20 Argentine wineries in terms of exports and is the leader in organic wine.
CLIMATE AND SOIL
From the beginning the family was devoted to sustainability and maintaining the land in the healthiest condition. Irrigation is done through a drop-by-drop system harnessing the Andean Mountains’ run-off, which creates a lower ph in the grapes, leading to higher acidity and color in the wine.
The sandy soil drainage makes the grapes “stress” to obtain water and helps create wines with elegant profiles.
The desert climate can swing as much as 59 degrees F from morning through night.
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WINERY
Domaine Bousquet´s philosophy is to focus on preserving the grapes high-quality characteristics, which is why gentle handling of the fruit is the guiding principle.
With a combination of traditional and modern methods, they produce high quality and polished style wines. The winery can handle about 4,5 million liters of premium wine, and the cellar includes stainless and cement vats, as well as French oak barrels.
Grapes arrive in small boxes to the receiving area, where they are hand-sorted before going to the de-stemmer. After a gentle destemming, the fruit is then sent to tanks for maceration and then fermentation for 30 days approximately. The fermentation is carried out with selected yeast at a controlled temperature. During the winemaking process, our winemaking team controls and regularly supervises our wines to ensure exceptional quality.
SUSTAINABILITY
Domaine Bousquet is one of the Argentinian leaders of organic and non-sulfite wines. They are dedicated to farming organically while improving the land’s biodiversity. They believe organically grown grapes can express the purity, intensity and varietal character of the local terroir at its best.
With lower yields and greater concentration of flavour, organic grapes allow their unique flavours to shine through. Organic agriculture uses natural fertilizers such as compost. The use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers is not permitted. It also helps to protect and sustain the land and the environment for future generations.
WINES
2019 Domaine Bousquet ‘Black Rock’ Malbec, Tupungato
90 points Wine Spectator
2019 Gaia Domaine Bousquet, Tupungato
2020 Domaine Bousquet Malbec Reserve, Tupungato
92 points Tim Atkin
2018 Domaine Bousquet Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Tupungato
92 points Tim Atkin
91 points James Suckling
2018 Domaine Bousquet Chardonnay Reserve, Tupungato
91 points James Suckling
2019 Domaine Bousquet Malbec Grand Reserve, Tupungato
93 points Tim Atkin
93 points James Suckling
2018 Ameri Domaine Bousquet, Tupungato
2018 Domaine Bousquet Malbec Dulce, Tupungato