Dona Paula

Paula, a new Design in honor of Women Posted on 2 January, 2015

This line of fresh, young and intense wines has been renewed with a sophisticated image of great personality. “The new design honors the women of Argentine vitiviniculture with an illustration portraying a woman’s silhouette among the vineyards of Mendoza”, explains Lucía Mallea, Doña Paula Brand Manager. The main characteristic of Paula line is that it keeps varietal typicity in all its wines, highlighting freshness and fruit in them.

The grapes are 100% sourced from own vineyards, and the varieties that make up Paula are Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Grenache Rose and a Red Blend have recently been incorporated.

Doña Paula's history goes back to 1990, when a period of exhaustive research on the different Argentinean terroirs and their potential to fully express each varietal traits started. 1997, this is when the first vineyard was acquired. It is located in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, in Ugarteche, Luján de Cuyo (Mendoza), a region that is famous worldwide because of its Malbec, which offers very aromatic red wines with soft tannins.

1998, Finca Los Cerezos, in Tupungato, was acquired. This promising land for short-cycle varieties, with great aromatic potential and amazing conditions to obtain freshness and acidity, was completely planted between 1998 and 2000. Besides, in this year the building of the state-of-the-art winery, with a total capacity of 1 million liters, became true. The unique desert climate, the soil and the makers' expertise combined to successfully obtain Doña Paula's first harvest: wines with great quality, concentration and a unique style.

Doña Paula went into the exports business by selling its wines to the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands. Doña Paula's exports broke successive growth records in 2003 and 2004, and consolidated an important position before the eyes of importers from all over the world and Argentinean colleagues. Doña Paula's style (fresh fruit, concentration and complexity) was recognized by the specialized press from Europe and America. With only two years in the international market, Doña Paula was awarded the prestigious Value Brand of the Year 2004 by Wine & Spirits magazine.

Significant investments were made to increase the winery capacity to 7 million liters and, in accordance with Doña Paula's innovative spirit, two estates were acquired in the Uco Valley to obtain terroir diversity: Finca Alluvia in Gualtallary (Tupungato) and Finca Los Indios in Altamira (San Carlos). These new estates have ensured a complete self-supply of grapes for 100% of our wines. Doña Paula is among the main Argentinean wineries that export premium wines; 97% of our production is exported to more than 60 countries and the international press has assigned us very high ratings.

We are absolutely sure that, in order to produce high quality wines, it is necessary to have the best vineyards. We also believe that, to establish our own style, it is essential to take care of each process during the phenological phases of the plants. Thus, the grapes used to produce our wines come from Doña Paula’s own vineyards . Our estates are located in premium areas of Mendoza, a province that concentrates 80% of Argentina’s wine production.

For many years, we have carried out detailed studies of Mendoza’s soils and microclimates; consequently, we nowadays own 703 hectares (around 1,737 acres) of vineyards located in the most prominent terroirs of Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley. These vineyards provide grapes of high enological level, capable of expressing their varietal and territorial traits with great intensity.

Our goal has always been to preserve natural resources.

As a consequence, our vineyards do not have pests or diseases. This is so because the amount of insects and fungi that live in those soils is in perfect balance with the number of natural predators they have and, therefore, these colonies cannot grow out of control or produce economic damage. We never use chemical products unless it is absolutely necessary: no organic or synthesized fungicides and no pesticides.

We prefer irrigation and pruning alone. We try not to use fertilizers. If some vineyards lack vigor, we only use a minimum amount of fertilizers in the same place and, in addition, we prefer compost (another type of substance, with grape skins) to recover the low-fertility sectors of our vineyards and try to improve our soils structure and biology. We preserve natural weeds and endemic plants in our soils if they are not invasive, especially in the Uco Valley, where vineyards are part of our natural landscape.

Organic (synthesized) fungicides are not necessary to control mildew, applying sulphur and copper sulphate is enough. What is probably most important: we do not expose our people (workers, customers and ourselves) to dangerous products.

Our motto and main corporative principle is “deliver the best that the Argentinean terroir can offer.” Thus, we aim at being a benchmark of quality and becoming an important Argentinean participant in the wine industry, recognized for our super premium wines.

Our enologists are free to “play” as they wish, they have all the necessary tools and technology to create a unique character in wines so that they can obtain their own personality. Precisely that is the reason why Doña Paula has been able to experiment and, thus, achieve its special way of making wine, its varieties, and acquire a particularly classical style.

We strongly believe that the selected moment to harvest and precise work at the winery are fundamental for the imprint we want to leave in our wines. Thus, technology plays an essential role in Doña Paula’s universe.

The new wine is transported in medium-size tanks (total capacity: between 40,000 and 50,000 liters), in which the winery’s Reserva wine is made (using specific vinification, extraction and methodology), and ends its trip in small capacity tanks (between 10 and 3,000 liters), in which the different wines are made with specific vinification and an ageing potential suitable for each line. There are also cement pools, historically advantageous for their thermal inertia, as they make the wine less prone to temperature changes.

Micro-oxygenation

This process is mainly applied in our “entry level” line Los Cardos and, to a lesser extent, in our Doña Paula Estate line. In this process, very low doses of oxygen are applied to generate reactions in the wine, according to the phase in which it is, that will result in quality improvement. It is a modern method. Oxygen makes it possible for the tannins and anthocyanins chains (two of the main components in red wines) to join.

In monomer tannins, typical of young wines, micro-oxygenation provides two opposite sensations: on the one hand, a wine that is not fully integrated and generates astringency and acidity; and, on the other hand, different positive sensations evoked by the same wine. The function of oxygen is to join that tannin with other tannins to polimerize it, thus turning the monomer into a polymer. This makes the tannin become round, sweeter, opulent and gain more body. At the same time, it is joined with the anthocyanins (substances that give wine its color) and prevents them, which are not linked in chains, from precipitating as a consequence of the wine acidity.

This process is similar to the one that takes place when the wine is in a barrique, as it allows very small quantities of oxygen to enter and, thus, the wine can “breathe.”