Grand Cru

We have passed by the Grand Cru wine shop almost every day since we've moved to Buenos Aires, and though we've talked about going in to see if they offer tastings, we've never actually gone inside.  I am pretty sure the doorman actually recognizes Jon and I due to the number of times that we've walked by, so when we finally went to a tasting this past weekend we both felt that it was past due.  The tasting was the most well rounded we've attended in Buenos Aires, more professional that the Anuva tasting and less expensive than the Park Hyatt.

Grand Cru (Rodriguez Peña 1886: 4816-3975)We booked the tasting for Saturday afternoon from 4:00 - 6:00pm and were told to be prompt.  The tasting room was quite nice and deceivingly large considering the storefront view from the street. The atmosphere was nice, the chairs were comfortable, the table was made of wine delivery crates, it was a really cool spot.  We chose the Malbec tasting where they served four bottles of wine, each from a different Argentine winery and from different price points.  Here are the varieties we tried:

• Pulenta - 2009 Gran Malbec
• Doña Paula - 2007 Selection de Bodega
• Catena Zapata - 2005 Malbec Argentino
• Don Miguel Gascon - 2006 Don

We started by tasting each wine and discussing it with the sommelier, Ezekial.  After we tasted the four, we each discussed our favorites and Ezekial divulged the cost of each bottle.  We were then able to sit and leisurely finish the bottles of wine while they brought out a plate of cheeses and raisins.  You may notice the Nespresso machine in the background of the photo to the left, none of us requested coffee, but I'm assuming they would have been happy to serve us coffee after the tasting.

It wasn't an inexpensive evening, the tasting was $1800 pesos total, regardless of the number of people in the tasting.  In addition to the tasting room, Grand Cru has a fantastic selection of wines in their store.  There were a few very specific requests that our group had for certain bottles of wine (not necessarily all Argentine wines) and the shop had all of them.

It was a really fun, nice evening and we had a great time.  I would recommend the Grand Cru tasting as a nice thing to do with guests or a great evening with friends.