Page 120 - ATHENS RIVIERA JOURNAL 2023

ATHENS RIVIERA JOURNAL
escape

T his adventure found me. What I knew ahead of time is that road 3: the road that doesn't exist

I can tell you only about the spirit of this next road. This road is so rarely taken
I would be going to Argentina and that I would be visiting one
that there is a rumor among locals that what lies at the end of it does not exist. It is
of the highest vineyards in the world. What I didn’t know is that
believed to be just a story told to add flavor and character, like an extraterrestrial,
in between the lines of this trip would be the discovery of how
to live close to the land and the sky at the same time.
mystical terroir. It is the road that takes you the extra stretch, the final kilometers
to reach 10,200 feet; the terroir of Altura Maxima. The highest-altitude wine in the
road 1: the gate to the underworld world. On this road you will see dust, taller-than-you cacti, dust, shrub bush, dust.
There are many roads that you need to take in order to connect earth and sky. And if it’s a windy day, there’s also dust swirling about.
The first of our roads will take us south from Salta on Route 68. We don’t have How could anyone think that this would be a good place for a vineyard? I’d heard
time to explore the colonial city of Salta; our focus is the promise of Cafayate the story of how Colomé came to be, but it didn’t really hit home until I was here.
and the in-between space of getting there. Almost immediately, we move from Donald Hess of The Hess Group comes to Argentina in search of its best wine. He
a world of normal color to one of simmering pink, and a purple that seems like becomes enthralled with the effect of altitude on wine – lusher, fuller, more con- ANOTHER WORLD
a reflection of both the blue of the sky and the green-pinks of the gorges rolled centrated, unlike anything else. He tries the red wine of the area at the time, and it’s Horses, Argentinian meat dishes, exceptional wines, smiling people and within just a few kilometers, land and sky converging.
up into a new color. In the distance, a mountaintop towers in white. It is not awful. But he sees potential in its deep black-red color. Skip forward… He decides to
the white of a snowcap, though. It is the white-grey of clouds, which makes it start his own vineyard and chooses this spot right here to do so, between the cactus
seem like it might dissolve into another form at any second. We’re pulling over. and a dry place. Working closely with engineers, he starts a dig for water. They call
I see a gorge that does not look like the rest. It resembles two huge palms of a him crazy, and he continues digging, for days. The locals still call him crazy. Until, at
hand coming together to create theater walls. A natural amphitheater. A small last – water. A miracle. Donald Hess has a gift for reading the land and for charming
wooden sign reads, “Puerta al Inframundo, Cosmovision Diaguita” – the door possibility out of impossibility. He and his wife Ursula built Colomé from the sky
to the Underworld, according to the cosmology of the Diaguita tribe, the indig- down. Today, his legacy is being recast through the inventive spirit of his step-daugh-
enous people of the Andean Northwest. Pre-Spaniards. Pre-Inca. In the Diagu- ter Larissa Ehrbar, and her husband Christoph.
ita dialect, cosmovision is thought to mean “seeing the true nature of things.” What does it mean for a vine to live close to the sky? In practical terms, these vines
Today, the door to the underworld has two people stationed outside of it – a create high-altitude wines. Living close to the sky means the vines are above the pol-
silver worker and a medicine woman. I buy a small silver charm; Pachamama, the lution level. These are clean-air grapes who get more sun. For grapes, a thicker skin
Andean Earth Goddess. She balances two scales; one earth, one sky, I presume. is a good thing because it means the fruit inside is more protected, and the flavors
more concentrated and intense. There are flavors and nutrients in the wines here
road 2: arrows to the sky that don’t exist in lower altitude wines – and, when compared to a Colomé wine,
Setting off the next morning to reach Estancia Colomé, recently voted the 25th everything is a lower altitude wine. Colomé’s winemaker, Thibaut Delmotte, has
best vineyard in the world, we can feel the significant gains in altitude. We take French winemaking roots, but the altitude here has an extra something that French
Route 40, the longest road in Argentina, linking Patagonia with the Bolivian wines can never have… Back at the Estancia we celebrate July 4 with an Argentinian
border. About thirty minutes later, we roll into an unreal landscape. The earth barbeque, called an asado. I appreciate Argentinian wine even more now because
goes from red-pink to ochre and rises up in narrow jagged blades. The blades are it’s unbelievable with Argentinian meat.
dotted with windows carved by the wind. We have been traveling less than twen- Alas, it’s time to wind down the mountain, back to the airport. The road is steep; our
ty-four hours, and I’ve seen many worlds already. We jump out. Climb up the driver, alert; we, quiet. Then, our guide pulls over and tells us we may want to look
craters. Overhead, condors circle. And the wind is serious. The only humans are around the corner. We get out of the car. The Capila San Rafael church is perched
us. From this vantage point, the cliffs do indeed look like arrows aimed upward at in the middle of nowhere. Turning back, I see the cloud line. We are above it. The
the sky. That is where the valley gets its name: La Quebrada de Las Flechas. Only adventure continues. I have my feet on the ground and my hands can touch the sky.
on the way out do I see the sign: “Attention! You are entering a wild site!” Indeed. We just experienced the essence of this adventure, once again. 

IN BETWEEN THE LINES OF THIS TRIP WOULD BE

THE DISCOVERY OF HOW TO LIVE CLOSE

TO THE LAND AND THE SKY AT THE SAME TIME.

120