July 23rd – Belasco de Baquedano Winery, situated in Agrelo, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina is pleased to announce that renowned winemaker Michel Rolland has joined their team as Consulting Winemaker.
“Exceptional as one would expect from this winemaking genius. An accurate observation about Rolland is that his wines’ quality levels are always world-class and among the finest that exist.” – Robert M. Parker Jr. of Wine Advocate
Rolland has consulted with over 250 world-class wineries throughout 14 countries around the world, including France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, South Africa, and the United States, and is credited with contributing to the evolution of viticulture and winemaking as it is known today. Michel Roland will join a team of two women winemakers: Lizzy Bordin from Mendoza, Argentina and Roser Girbau from Cataluña, Spain.
“Michel is a force in the winemaking world who brings unparalleled expertise, but he also recognizes the true potential for Malbec from Agrelo to be some of the best wines in the world. I am excited to see what this talented group of individuals is capable of.” – Mikel Belasco.
Belasco de Baquedano is a Spanish owned winery lead by second generation Mikel Belasco Jauregui following the steps of his father Ignacio Belasco Baquedano. Known best for their internationally distributed LLAMA wine brand, Belasco de Baquedano owns 160 acres of over 110-year-old malbec vineyards. The winery was built in 2003. This massive multi-leveled facility sits above and below ground, is gravity-driven, and has a one-million-liter capacity and boasts of temperature controlled stainless steel and concrete tanks (4,500 to 26,000 liter sizes), grape refrigeration rooms, two table selections (one before the destemmer and another after), a delestage tank, and three individual underground barrel aging rooms to keep humidity and temperature stable all year long.
Mendoza is increasingly becoming a popular wine tourism destination. Located in one of the most popular areas with neighbors like Catena, Susan Balboa and Paul Hobbs, Belasco de Baquedano takes full advantage of their location offering tours of their state-of-the-art wine facility which includes South America’s only “Aroma Room” presenting 46 fragrances that unlock the nuances of wine, and a five-star restaurant perched on the top floor with breath taking views of the vineyards and Andes.
Cabernet Corp., based in Novato, California, is a nationally distributed wine importer specializing in wines from Chile, Argentina and Australia, and the exclusive importer of Belasco de Baquedano for the USA and Canada. The companies have been working together since 2008 and are excited to see what’s in store for the future.
