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Alto de la Ballena is a small winery with 8 hectares of vineyards, located at few less than 15 km. from Punta Ballena, the spot where Casapueblo, the creation of well known artist Carlos Páez Vilaró is located, in the department of Maldonado and pretty close to Punta del Este. We were received by Paula Pivel and Álvaro Lorenzo, who tell us with great enthusiasm the progress achieved by their venture.

After a long time search in the departments of Maldonado and Rocha, Paula and Álvaro made their decision and chose this land in the slope of Sierra de la Ballena. From the highest vineyard, 112 m above sea level, there is a magnificent view of the large Laguna del Sauce, with the peak of Pan de Azúcar in the background.

The soil preparation was not an easy task, heaps of stones had to be removed, and some of the lots had to be levelled with the use of a bulldozer.

Paula enumerates the advantages of her loved terroir: the stony and sandy soil of the hill, the proximity to the sea bringing a right dose of humidity, and the soft wind guaranteeing airing. Pascal Barbot, the enologist and chef from L'Astrance expressed, during his visit to Alto de la Ballena years ago, the resemblance of this true terroir with the French region of Loire, near the Atlantic Ocean.

The first vines were planted between 2000 and 2001, and the first clusters were harvested in 2005. The purpose was clear: a small yield to become high quality wines.

Trilogy of enologists

Paula Pivel attended enology classes while her vines were climbing the trellises, now she shares responsibility on the products with Carla Fallabrino, who mastered her skills in California, and with Duncan Killiner, who contributes as consultant enology his broad experience brought from New Zealand, and who has for many years been travelling around many wineries in Argentina and, particularly, providing counselling to some wineries in Uruguay.

Grapes and wines

Currently there are four red grape varieties growing in Alto de la Ballena: tannat, merlot, cabernet franc and syrah. Álvaro describes with enthusiasm the virtues of merlot grapes: this is the variety that best adapted to the climate conditions, and which rendered more satisfactions when turned into wine, perhaps because of the resemblance of these lands with those of Burdeos, in France. Among white grapes, the viognier was picked taking into account the same reasons. That is why viognier fulfils an outstanding role in one of their assemblages: a tannat-viognier where body and colour are contributed by the red grape, and the viognier, after some time in wooden barrels, adds its aroma and the precise flavour for its perfect termination.

Precisely it was this assemblage of 85% tannat and 15% viognier which stroke the attention of the renowned Argentine journalist Fernando Vidal Buzzi during the recent VII Salón del Vino Fino carried out at the Conrad Hotel in Punta del Este. Vidal Buzzi referred to this Alto de la Ballena Reserva 2007 as "unusual and unexpected" and praised "the 'beneficial' effect of viognier over tannat", adding that as a result "a gentle, nice wine is obtained, easy to drink and unexpectedly suitable to accompany pasta dressed with butter, a steak with fried potatoes, or even a seafood paella".

Another of the assemblages also denotes a well achieved combination: 40% merlot (half of which spent some time in oak), 30% tannat and 30% cabernet franc.

From the second harvest, two remarkable reserve wines came to light:a merlot 2006 and a tannat 2007.

Álvaro pours the merlot proudly: an intense red after 16 months in oak barrels to accomplish the right wooden flavor desired.

Until now, the winery line of products has two more wines: a white 100% viognier and a rosé assemblage of cabernet franc and tannat, aromatic though dry. In the future, a blend of syrah and cabernet franc shall also be available.

With the harvest of 2008, Alto de la Ballena inaugurated its own winery, with equipment imported from Italy, whose capacity will enable the processing of their whole production of 40.000 litres.

Until now, the wines from Alto de la Ballena, were only sold in specialized wine shops and in some selected restaurants in Punta del Este, but now they are walking their steps through a larger domestic market: they will be offered among the wines of Tienda Inglesa (market chain). Furthermore, they are crossing frontiers for the first time, since the last days in 2008 they are already in Mexico and Brazil.