Tonight I am going to spend the evening tasting some great wines and eating marvelous food. I’m involved in a project thanks to my friend Roberto Cipresso who I met 11 years ago in Argentina by chance.

My friend was looking to import Argentinean wines into Italy so we had the pleasure of meeting with some producers independently when we visited. We met Roberto Cipresso, the winemaker at Achaval Ferrer at that time. Roberto has since become a friend but at the time, I had no idea who he was. A world famous oenologist, he spent about three hours with us tasting from his barrels with a wine thief. I was overcome with delight and didn’t take a single photo but it is all imprinted in my mind. The Finca Mirador, a delicious Malbec and the Quimera, a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc were among my favorites together with the Finca Altamira, also a Malbec. The wines displayed red fruit and minerality, typical of wines from Mendoza but the Mirador is a more robust wine while the Quimera is arguably more nuanced, perfumy and bordeaux like in style. Roberto has a lot of ideas about terroir, wines and almost everything under the sun. He is a truly imaginative person and a terrific winemaker. Later this week I can write about the event and the wines but for today, I’m just excited to see my friend.