Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
South America
351
Benegas Lynch
Head Poncho
Mendoza, Argentina
When Federico Benegas Lynch decided to
renovate his beautiful 100-year-old win-
ery, he had trouble making the plaster
stick. “You just cannot get the adobe-
skilled workers anymore,” explained the
wiry ex-banker with gray flecked hair, “and
I truly wanted to keep this winery in the
traditional style.”
He seems to have made an excellent
job of it. This winery, 20 minutes south of
the city, has to be one of the most gor-
geous boutique bodegas in Mendoza,
combining tradition with modern flair and
style. The plaster problem was solved with
an old Mexican recipe of cactus juice.
Now, warm cappuccino-colored walls are
topped with arched windows and hedged
with lines of vines in an ample courtyard.
You'll notice, however, an unusual number
of doors in the low, stablelike buildings—
in this earthquake-prone area, traditional
architecture always provided lots of exits
so people could get out fast when the
tremors came.
The winery itself is immaculate. Blood-
colored concrete tanks stand in a neat
row, their polished steel doors betraying
the high-tech winemaking that takes place
here. The cellar is an atmospheric corridor
of tall square pillars, dividing neat lines of
new oak barrels. The aesthetic is at once
monastic and romantic, conventlike, and
cool.
The larger building has an attractive
central salon with two long white sofas on
either side, showered with a multitude of
cushions. A large stainless-steel hood
gleams in the corner, covering an indoor
grill used for the famous Argentine
asado
(barbecue). A long, dark, polished table of
oak stands in the center. Thick, luxurious
ponchos hang from the walls, their rich,
colorful fiber contrasting with the stark
brick and adobe walls. “I'm a collector,”
Benegas Lynch explains. “Here you see
ponchos that once belonged to great
Indian chiefs, gifted to my great grandfa-
ther Tiburcio Benegas Lynch.”
The Lynch name stems from an exodus
of the Irish tribe that fled religious persecu-
tion in 1702. They spread across the world
and left their mark in many places, not least
of all Bordeaux, where the Château Lynch-
Bages (see ) produces wines to this day.
The Argentine contingent became success-
ful merchants in Buenos Aires. They contin-
ued an aristocratic line that digressed in
many directions—as far as Cuba, in the
case of one who went by the name of Che
Guevara Lynch.
Tiburcio ended up in Mendoza in the
late 19th century and started his own rev-
olution in wine by founding Trapiche, cur-
rently Argentina's biggest winery. He is
regarded as one of the great pioneers who
The tasting room at Benegas Lynch in Mendoza,
Argentina.
