Bodega Noemía

Bodega Noemia is, in a word, singular, down to the pre-phylloxera, ungrafted vines of a mix of Bordeaux varieties (mostly Malbec) that, in tiny yields, go into their flagship wine.
Owner and winemaker Hans Vinding-Diers is half Danish, half English, was born in Stellenbosch and went to primary school in St-Estephe before working as a cellar hand in Hunter Valley, while his parents own a winery in Sicily.

In 1998, the heyday of seeking out old vines and making superlative wines out of a ​garage - not just in his hometown of Bordeaux but also by his cousin in Spain (Pingus) - a 26 year old Hans went to work in Patagonia, Argentina. Here glacial melt and pure rain water drain into the Rio Negro to create a little oasis in this region, which is perfectly solar and perfectly arid for fine wine making (also organically and sustainably).

Hans found the oldest vines in the valley, untouched by chemicals, secured local help to destem every grape by hand, and made his first vintage (2001) in, indeed, a garage. He and partner Noemi Marone Cinzano (hence its name) secured the land, though from 2018 it’s been entirely his.

Today, joined by his wife Belen and two sons, Hans still makes their flagship wine from his original 5ha vineyard, now in world-class facility, as well as two others (A Lisa, so named after his grandmother, which is made using a range of local grapes and up to 50,000 bottles per year, and J Alberto, from an even smaller 4.5ha site). He says he has a 'Bordelais foundation, but I work like a Burgundian,' focusing on terroir and vintage expression in his ethereal reds.