Tasting Bodega Sin Fin With the Winemakers in Mendoza

Submitted by Nikki on

The Short History of Bodega Sin Fin

Bodega Sin Fin's story starts just a year and a half ago. We tried their 2006 Chardonnay, 2005 Malbec and 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2006 Malbec "Guarda" (roughly translated as a reserve) was not ready for this tasting, but is now generally available. These are the first wines that Sin Fin has made and if this is the quality of their rookie year then they are going to have an amazing winery. Currently the wine is available in Argentina, San Francisco, and just a few other areas. They do hope to grow their distribution both nationally and internationally but do not plan to break beyond the "boutique" level.

The people behind Sin Fin are the owners of a very large vineyard in Mendoza - several hundred hectares of land located in different regions. They select just a small amount of grapes from within their vineyard to use for the Sin Fin label and then hired the famous Spanish winemaker Maria Isabel Mijares to consult with them in the project.

Bodega Sin Fin - Malbec, Cabernet, Chardonnay

The chardonnay was not aged in oak barrels, which delighted one of the people at the tasting who felt that it maintained great flavors in spite of not being oak aged. The rest of the group seemed to prefer one of the two reds. The malbec was a fairly traditional malbec - strong wood or earth scents and a nice flavor. The guarda malbec was aged for 8 months in oak, while the other two reds were only aged for 6 months.

The two reds felt a little young still. The cabernet was served from a decanter, likely to help it get ready for our consumption a bit faster. In spite of this, they were both great wines. The cabernet was fairly spicey while still being balanced.

Bodega Sin Fin's Overall Style

In contrast to Kaiken - whose goal was to create smooth wines - Bodega Sin Fin has the goal to "go beyond" normal wines and to create delicious experiences In the realm of "extreme brewing" I understand what it means for someone like Dogfish Head to "go beyond" normal beer. But it was not so clear how Sin Fin had really exceeded the normal bounds for a wine.