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The secrets of Messi's wine and the special request he made to his winemaker: 'It has to be better than Iniesta's'

2021-07-14T11:39:26.176Z


The captain of the Selection has a wine made in the Uco Valley. There are 3,000 bottles of a Malbec blend that the crack himself designed together with his father and brothers. Look how he did it.


Roxana Badaloni

07/14/2021 6:01 AM

  • Clarín.com

  • sports

Updated 7/14/2021 6:01 AM

Lionel Messi

has his own wine made in Argentina. He made it in 2018, to his liking, with Mendoza grapes and the advice of Bodegas Bianchi.

It spent a year in oak barrels

, was bottled and will be stored for when it is "ready to consume". Among jokes that show his competitive personality, the only warning from the captain of the Selection and Barcelona to the consultant winemaker Silvio Alberto was:

"My wine has to be better than Iniesta's

.

"

Lionel Messi (34) enjoys drinking wine when not in competition. He inherited that taste from his father Jorge

, who knows wines and is a fan of the Mendoza winery based in the Uco Valley and San Rafael. Bianchi is responsible for making the L 10 wine ($ 800), from the Leo Messi Foundation, which allocates part of its sales to support projects for the health care and education of children with socioeconomic disadvantages.

But the captain's fondness for this thousand-year-old drink also comes from his life in Europe, where he has been able to meet and taste great wines.

Three years ago, he had the pleasure of giving his mother Celia Cuccittini a Vega-Sicilia wine, vintage 1960

, the year of her birth.

And, on that occasion, Leo bought the same exclusive Spanish wine that has a price 

above 1000 euros (about two hundred thousand pesos, in blue price)

, but from the 1986 vintage, when it was his birth.

Soon after, his friend Neymar followed suit and bought the same brand from the 1992 vintage, also for the date of his birth.

Leo Messi and the exclusive wine, Vega-Sicilia, vintage 1960, that he gave to his mother.

The creation of Messi's wine

“We were tasting wines in Rosario and Barcelona to define what wine Leo wanted to make,” Bianchi's main winemaker, Silvio Alberto, tells Clarín.

There were two meetings with part of the management team of the winery and the soccer player.

They first met at the Messi family home on the outskirts of Rosario.

And, in 2019, at Leo's house in Casteldefels, facing the Mediterranean Sea, in Barcelona.

"

I brought him the final cut of the wine that is

already

bottled

, and stored in the stowage, waiting for it to evolve to be able to launch when Messi has it available," explained Silvio.

The relationship with the Mendoza winery arose from the wine they make for the Leo Mess

i

Foundation

, then came the decision of the Messi family to make an exclusive wine for the player.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Silvio Alberto (@ silvio_alberto31)

Leo's own wine is a blend of five vines of tub grapes

: Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, some Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

The grapes come from the town of Los Chacayes, municipality of Tunuyán, in the Uco Valley, 120 kilometers from the city of Mendoza.

The best and most awarded Argentine wines come from that region.

Once the wine was made, it was kept in oak barrels for more than a year and then bottled.

They are around 3000 bottles

.

For now it is a personal project, "a pleasure that Messi wants to give himself", but which can be transformed into a commercial product in the future, according to the Mendoza winemaker.

In the process of creating the drink, Leo knew how to define the wine he likes to drink.

"I proposed that he make a cut (a mixture of two or more varieties of wine) and I another, and then put it to a vote."

His father, his brothers and the general manager of Bianchi, Rafael Calderón, had their say in the final decision

.

Based on this, the style of the Argentine idol's wine emerged.

The souvenir that Messi gave to the guests of his wedding with Antonella Roccuzzo, included a bottle of his wines.

In the memory of the hours he shared with Messi and his family, the winemaker describes: “It was a moment without protocol, relaxed, tasting different varieties and more than anything we joked with the type of wine he wanted.

He told me that it had to be better than (Andrés) Iniesta, his former teammate and friend at Barcelona ”.

The Iniesta Winery has 120 hectares of vineyards and is located on the wine route in La Manchuela, Fuentealbilla, Albacete.

The midfielder, who now plays for Vissel Kobe in Japan, is deeply involved with the sale of his Corazón Loco wine and his wine company.

Leo's palate

The style of wine that Messi likes is "more European", according to his advisor.

The footballer prefers an aromatic wine, with fruity aromas, well balanced and easy to drink.

"He doesn't like heavy wines," says the Bianchi winemaker.

Silvio Alberto's birthday is the same day as the star, June 24;

and they also joked about that coincidence.

"He is an exceptional person, humble, who treated me as if we had known each other for years," he says.

The Leo Messi Foundation has L10 wines, made by Bodegas Bianchi.

Now the soccer player has a premium blend to his liking with Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot grapes, some Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, from the town of Los Chacayes (Valle de Uco, Mendoza).

When can Messi uncork his wine?

It's anyone's guess, but it will be in a few months or maybe a couple of years.

The Mendoza winemaker warns that there is no hurry: "I speak often with Jorge Messi and we will launch the wine when it is in spectacular condition to drink it."

Look also

Messi shared the video of the celebrations recorded with his cell phone and the networks exploited

"Every day I'm loving him a little more": Manu Ginobili's praise for Lionel Messi

Ángel Di María and his beautiful gesture with a child from Rosario who suffers from a spinal disease

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-07-14

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