{"id":2651,"date":"2025-12-24T13:18:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2651"},"modified":"2025-12-24T13:18:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:18:53","slug":"winemaker-interview-series-fabian-valenzuela-of-tapiz-zolo-and-wapisa-october-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2651","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker Interview Series \u2013 Fabi\u00e1n Valenzuela of Tapiz, Zolo, and Wapisa &#8211; October 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Fabian-Valenzuela-of-Tapiz-Home-1.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2657 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Fabian-Valenzuela-of-Tapiz-Home-1-219x300.gif\" alt=\"Fabian Valenzuela of Tapiz\" width=\"219\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>On Wednesday, October 1, 2025, we had the opportunity to interview <strong>Fabi\u00e1n Valenzuela<\/strong>. Fabi\u00e1n is the Winemaker for three wineries in Argentina:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tapiz.com.ar\/tapiz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Tapiz<\/strong><\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tapiz.com.ar\/zolo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong> Zolo<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, and<\/span> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tapiz.com.ar\/wapisa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wapisa<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">. We covered a 2022 Pinot<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Noir Wapisa, a 2022 Cabernet Franc, and a 2019 Petit Verdot from Zolo. We closed the tasting with three terrific wines from Tapiz: a 2020 Malbec and two high-end 2018 Bordeaux-styled blends that pay tribute to<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winebusiness.com\/news\/newreleases\/article\/187197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Jean-Claude Berrouet<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, the winery&#8217;s consultant who is famous for his time making Petrus. In this post you will learn more about Fabi\u00e1n, the three wineries, and all of these terrific wines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Before we get to the wines, I thought I would share some tidbits Fabi\u00e1n shared.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This year was Fabi\u00e1n\u2019s 40<sup>th<\/sup><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He started when he was 18.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He has worked mainly in Argentina. He has done some work in Napa and France.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He worked 8 years for Catena.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He started working for<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/vinodelsol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/PatriciaOrtizBio.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>Patricia Ortiz<\/u><\/strong><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">in 2003.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Wapisa winery is in Patagonia.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is the only coastal winery in Patagonia. All the others are inland.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Rio Negro is a city. Rio Negro means &#8220;Black River.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Patagonia which is south of the river has a similar altitude to Uco Valley.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In Patagonia \u2013 you pick early to get good balance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Zolo winery is in Agrelo, Mendoza.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This region has compact clay soils.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They grow Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc there.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cabernet Franc is fashionable in Argentina right now.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Petit Verdot is usually a grape used in blending.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In Agrelo, Petit Verdot ripens well.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is always the last pick.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It likes the heat.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For the &#8220;Black&#8221; wine they only use a specific block.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tapiz winery is in San Pablo in the Uco Valley.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The vineyards are at an altitude of 1,400 meters.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They have 450 hectares.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Their consulting winemaker is<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winebusiness.com\/news\/newreleases\/article\/187197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Jean-Claude Berrouet<\/strong><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">who is famous for his 41 years at Petrus.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The &#8220;Retrato por Jean Claude&#8221; wine is mainly Cabernet from 2 blocks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;Retrato&#8221; mean portrait.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The 2018 vintage was very cool.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The &#8220;Las Notas de Jean Claude&#8221; wine is mainly Merlot.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;Las Notas de&#8221; means &#8220;The notes of.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jean Claude calls the Argentinian Merlot, &#8220;The real Merlot.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Wapisa-Logo.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Wapisa-Logo.gif\" alt=\"Wapisa Logo\" width=\"200\" height=\"177\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1)<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Wapisa-2022-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Wapisa 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Rio Negro&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">$25 (<\/span><strong style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 90.5<\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Zolo-Logo.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2654\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Zolo-Logo.gif\" alt=\"Zolo Logo\" width=\"200\" height=\"234\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Zolo-2022-Reserve-Cabernet-Franc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Zolo 2022 Cabernet Franc &#8220;Reserve&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Mendoza) $20 (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 90<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">3) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Zolo-2019-Black-Petit-Verdot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Zolo 2019 Petit Verdot &#8220;Black&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> $40 (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 92<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tapiz-Logo.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2655\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tapiz-Logo.gif\" alt=\"Tapiz-Logo\" width=\"200\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">4) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Tapiz-2020-Black-Tears-Malbec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Tapiz 2020 Malbec &#8220;Black Tears&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Mendoza) $65 (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 94.5<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">5) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Tapiz-2018-Retrato-por-Jean-Claude\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Tapiz 2018 &#8220;Retrato por Jean Claude&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Mendoza) $100 (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 94<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot &amp; 2% Malbec<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">6) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Tapiz-2018-Las-Notas-de-Jean-Claude\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Tapiz 2018 &#8220;Las Notas de Jean Claude&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Mendoza) $100 (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 97<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 69% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, &amp; 1% Petit Verdot<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You can find reviews of past and future, Wapisa, Zolo, and Tapiz wines that we cover on their respective \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine.php?winery=1018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>Wapisa<\/u><\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine.php?winery=3166\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>Zolo<\/u><\/strong><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine.php?winery=3043\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>Tapiz<\/u><\/strong> <\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>KWG winery page<\/strong><strong>s<\/strong> <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">on our website. We hope you enjoy these terrific wines as much as we did. Cheers! Ken<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, October 1, 2025, we had the opportunity to interview Fabi\u00e1n Valenzuela. Fabi\u00e1n is the Winemaker for three wineries in Argentina: Tapiz, Zolo, and Wapisa. We covered a 2022 Pinot Noir Wapisa, a 2022 Cabernet Franc, and a 2019 Petit Verdot from Zolo. We closed the tasting with three terrific wines from Tapiz: a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3266,96,3268,22,18,3259,88,3263,11,95,2173,10,3267,3265,1932,3264,12,1201,1187,2900,3241,3260,3269,2657,3262,126,8,6,3261,1288],"tags":[2186,1059,3254,3255,3247,501,625,3250,3243,3248,3257,495,2178,519,3252,3251,866,3249,492,1427,3256,3253,2678,3270,3258,1058,3246,3245],"class_list":["post-2651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agrelo","category-argentina","category-black-wine","category-cabernet-franc","category-cabernet-sauvignon","category-fabian-valenzuela","category-high-end-wines","category-jean-claude-berrouet","category-kens-wine-guide-tasting-panel","category-malbec","category-mendoza","category-merlot","category-patagonia","category-patricia-ortiz","category-petit-verdot","category-petrus","category-pinot-noir","category-red-blend","category-red-wine","category-reserve-wine","category-san-pablo","category-tapiz","category-the-real-merlot","category-uco-valley","category-wapisa","category-wine-ratings","category-wine-recommendations","category-wine-reviews","category-zolo","category-zoom-wine-tasting","tag-agrelo","tag-argentina","tag-black-river","tag-black-wine","tag-bordeaux-blend","tag-cabernet-franc","tag-cabernet-sauvignon","tag-catena","tag-fabian-valenzuela","tag-jean-claude-berrouet","tag-las-notas","tag-malbec","tag-mendoza","tag-merlot","tag-patagonia","tag-patricia-ortiz","tag-petit-verdot","tag-petrus","tag-pinot-noir","tag-reserve","tag-retrato","tag-rio-negro","tag-san-pablo","tag-tapiz","tag-the-real-merlot","tag-uco-valley","tag-wapisa","tag-zolo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2651"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2659,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651\/revisions\/2659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}