Looking for a perfect spot with beautiful waterfront views for you or visitors? The new River Landing might be your answer. Learn about this new amazing complex of restaurants, offices, stores and more from the developer, Andy Hellinger. And Jacqueline Coleman talks with Juan Pablo Murgia, winemaker at Otronia about wine in Patagonia.
Food, News & Views with Linda Gassenheimer
Food, News & Views, Ep 232: River Landing Complex, Andy Hellinger, Patagonian Wine, Juan Pablo Murgia, Jacqueline Coleman
(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Linda Gassenheimer, and welcome to Food News and Views. Glad to have you joining us. Where are you looking for a spot with beautiful waterfront views, maybe for a perfect dinner out? Well, we have one for you, and for maybe your visitors or any visitors to Miami. It's River Landing. This is an amazing complex right on the Miami River. It has upscale restaurants along with fast casual ones. It has apartments, office space, and it's all conveniently close to the highway into the Miami airport, where our guest is here to tell us more about it. He's the developer, Andy Hellinger, who along with Corley Pennabad created and built River Landing. Welcome, Andy. - Thank you, Linda. Happy to be here. - My pleasure. And congratulations. I've been there and I was really amazed with a beautiful addition to our area that this is. - I'm so happy to hear that. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. That was the response like that is really what we were thinking about when we designed this project at with an attempt to invite community to come and enjoy the beauty of the Miami River. - Right. Well, it certainly was a while when I got there. Well, why don't you just describe, first of all, the River Landing. What is the concept? - River Landing is a misuse project consisting of 346,000 square feet of retail. 150,000 square feet of office and 528 apartments. - Yeah, that's right. Let me just mention for a minute, I didn't mention the retail alone with all of the other things that were there. There's big box stores are there as well. So you can go there and shop and enjoy them sit down and eat and relax. - We have a variety of retail, both national, anchor, big box, but we also have small local shops and small and local restaurants. This is all about food, I think. And along our riverfront, we have 20,000 square feet of scale dining, two of which are open. I know you ate at Elion, hope you enjoyed yourself. And you more are under construction. - Right. Well, now you're giving us all these numbers, but to put it in perspective, it's just a huge, wide area along the river. And what I love is that you've also made a river walk. People can just walk up and down the bank of the river right there and enjoy the serenity of the river. And so why did you decide? I mean, you built this from just bank space. It's what you called, I didn't realize we called it that area. It's called the health area. Can you tell us what that is? - This area of mining was called the health district civic center. In the, our goal is to build a sense of community in that area. And we've rebranded it the mid-river district because actually river mining sits at the, what would be a middle point in the distance of the mining river from mining spring down to the mouth of the mining river in downtown Miami. And so we wanted to open up the river to the public to enjoy. And the first thing we did is say that we needed an expansive river walk. That's our attraction, our muse, to show off the river. When you come to river landing from any area of shopping from a great central agent to any level of the shopping area or the office level, you have different views of the Miami river. The idea was bring people down to the water and people that come in from the water to bring them into the building and then up the building. But you don't have to be a shopper, a diner, a residence, an office tenant to enjoy river landing or what we created along the river. We have, we're a 10-acre parcel. We have 750 feet of riverfront. We built this 50-foot-wide river walk. And the idea was if you just wanted to come and hang out by the river, read a book, bring your own lunch, or just sit, we're okay with that. We opened up the river for that purpose. We have shopping and dining and maybe even living at river landing. But if you don't and you just wanna enjoy it and tell your friends you enjoyed it, that's okay for you. - Right, and that's a really good point to make that sometimes it's either too expensive or too difficult to get access to just enjoying the waterfront. And here you can easily do that, which was, I thought was wonderful. Now, you started to mention that there were two major restaurants there right on the river and then we'll get to the smaller restaurants that are there. One, one as you mentioned was Iliya, E-L-I-A, which is Italian. And the other is, what is the other one called? - Tanooki, it's Asian, Japanese, Chinese. - But this was an unusual Japanese restaurant, Japanese, Chinese restaurant. Tell us a little bit about it. - It's more like an Asian inspired restaurant. They have a sushi menu. They have some original sushi rolls that they make. But they're also Chinese and inspired. And so it's a little bit of both. They have two Tanookis in the United States. They both happen to be in Miami, but they have 98 around the world. - Well, and what I had to laugh at is, what Tanooki means? Raccoon, is that right? - I think that Tanooki in Japanese is a some sort of animal. I think it's related to a raccoon, but not 100% sure. - Well, it's very cute. They've got a big, huge statue in front of the restaurant. - We asked the Google that to be correct. - Okay. - I honestly, I should know that. There are 10, I should know that. But now, I'm gonna ask. - Okay, well, in any case, it's an interesting concept to have Japanese and Chinese together in a beautiful setting. And the other was Italian, really Mediterranean, in a sense, right there on the river. So this is a huge multi-story complex. If we just mentioned it's right on the river bank, you must have faced some major challenges. What kind of challenges did you face there? - Well, we are on the river. The size of this project was approved by the city with the condition that all of our loading, garbage, backup house, storage, big truck movement, all have been below ground. So we built a below-grade loading dock along the shores of the Miami River. So all of our trucks come down about 25 to 30 feet underground, our water table is at seven feet. So you can understand that a big engineer to feet was, how do we dry in our loading dock so that our retailers and restaurants can get their goods delivered, get their garbage removed, all with the river being about 50 feet away from our walls. - That is really amazing to hear, because as you said, I had no idea that when I was there that all of that was taking place underground, you must have had to build major retainers because you're right on the water. - It was a big engineering feat to build the below-grade loading dock and water group it and dry it in and have it stay operational, not on that because it's below-grade for floods. If North West River drive floods, we need to protect that area from flooding. So we have a very sophisticated floodgate system that helps out in the fall. - Wow, and you did all this in, well, a relatively short time, I think, around 10 years. - We've bought the property in 2014. We dreamed up the idea in 2012, closed on the property with city approval for this project in 2014. In 2017, we were approved for construction and in 2020, we opened. - Amazing, fantastic, really fantastic. And I also like the fact that it's easy parking. I mean, you seem to have thought of everything. There's a huge parking lot area there, multi-story. - We do try and make it easy for parking. The most people in Miami drive by car. And the first impression is going to be when you come in in your car. So we wanted to make that as pain free as possible to get in and get out. - And you certainly did. Well, you seem to have thought about everything. Now, is your background a developer or builder? What does your background have come to this wonderful conclusion here? - I wasn't a lawyer. - That doesn't answer. (laughing) - And a client was here in Miami, bought up a lot of land for development, a lot of which is being developed today by other people. And they asked me to become the president of their development company. And I couldn't say no, the opportunity to reshape the landscape in the city of Miami was too good to turn down. That company, we ended up delving off all of our assets and I decided that I did not want to go back to practice in law, I enjoyed being a developer. And Corley and about and I, we formed our own development business and decided that we would take a risk and do it on our own. Oddly enough, we were a small company. We decided that small projects were a headache and large projects were a headache. So we went large because it's a headache. - You may have felt well had the same headache. Are there future plans for any development within this area? - Let me explain to people who are in Miami that the Jackson Hospital area, that whole area, Bascom Palmer, it's that area right near the river. And when you go there, you don't realize how close to the river you are. So have you got any other ideas for development in that area? - Or say it on that comment just for a second, a lot of people will say to me, I was driving on E36 and I saw this big building on the North Shore of the Miami area. And I didn't know what it was. But now that I've come here, wow. So for all your listeners that are driving by E36 where Marlon Stadium is, we're just north of that on the north side of the river. And when you drive by and say, what is that? That sort of land, shopping, dining, riverfront, living. And the answer is, in the Mid River District, there are a couple of new projects that were built not related to us that have added residential living in the Mid River District. There's another project being done by all the developers that will add another to 230, 240 units. We are in permitting on building a part of building that will have over 400 units in it. And some other developers have bought land with plan to develop. So the area is becoming a place where other developers want to help us make it a community. And we viewed what we did at River Landing as being a place maker, a community maker. Taking a long time for developers and equity investors to see the Mid River area or the health district as a community. And finally, they're seeing it that way. And I think it's because of the step of our retail and residential components. - Right. And the other point, I'd like to point out is that you can cater to almost any economic level there. - We have a little something for everyone. We have Big Box National Discount Stores, but we have upscale hair and nail. And we have optical boutique. We have our white cable cost restaurants that are a little bit higher. But then we have our fast casual restaurants. We have a Chick-fil-A. We have a Align Mexican. And we have probably one of the best French bakers in the country in Cecil, Bologna and Repostery. - Right, wonderful. And unfortunately, or fortunately, you made me have some of those wonderful baked goods. I had to comply with that. Anyway-- - I really enjoyed it. - I did, I did. Well, so where can we find out more about river landing and make reservations or whatever? What's the best way to do that? - Our webpage, riverliningmiami.com. - Just go there and we'll find out everything we need to know. There's links to our stores and there's links to our restaurants. - Wonderful. Andy Halinger, thank you so much for joining me. And once more, congratulations on this wonderful, interesting complex, the whole new complex. - Thank you so much for having me. - Right, well, I'm Linda Gassenheimer, and this is Food News and Views. And joining me now is Somalia Jacqueline Coleman. She talks with Juan Pablo about wine-making in Patagonia and their extreme climate. Here's her interview. - Well, today I am joined by Juan Pablo Morilla, the head winemaker at Othronio Winery in Patagonia, Argentina. So welcome Juan Pablo, thanks for joining me. - Thank you Jacqueline. - So this is very interesting, a winery in Patagonia. This is not usually where we think of wineries being located when we think of wine from Argentina. So tell us a little bit about where this winery is and why it's so special and it's such a unique place. - Well, I have to tell you that Patagonia has long history in winemaking, but especially located in Northern Patagonia, especially Rio Nero, you can find, I don't know, 100 years old or more, older vines. But what Othronio is, that is Chihuut is a new province, one of the last province to get into the Argentinian map. This is completely new. So Othronio is located in the southern part of Chihuut at the parallel 45. It's kind of the same latitude as New Zealand's South Island, just to have a reference. And well, this is the southernmost latitude for a vineyard in South America and in the world, actually. So it's a unique place. - So have vines existed here in the past or is this a new phenomenon for this area? - No, it's completely new. Chihuut history in Inbitical is 15 years old. And we were the first project planting there. Now, there are much more producers, especially Northern Chihuut. But in our latitude, we are the only producers right now because it's an extreme place. It's a very extreme place, so it's kind of hard to grow vines there. But once you sort these extreme conditions, the results are incredible. - So let's talk a little bit more about these extreme conditions. What is the climate like, especially during the growing season when these grapes are developing on the vine? What kind of climatic issues are you dealing with? - You have three very extreme factors. The first one I should mention because it's one of the most important in terms of influence on the vines and in the wine style and the wine quality is temperature. We are one of the coldest wine regions in the world. Actually, this harvest, we did our first ice wine. Let's give you an idea how cold this place is. And we have, it's a very warm place during the day because it's a desert and in desert, normally you have warmer, warm days, but you have very cold nights. This last season, we have 11 frost events since the back break at the beginning up to the harvest. So of course, we develop a way to fight against that by spraying water and freezing all the vegetable structure in order not to get frost. So when you have this technique very adjust, you are safe. But the good thing is the final result is an amazing CDT, but it's not only about the CDT, it's about the finance, the balance, the elegance we can achieve in such a cold place. But there is more challenging and dangerous condition there, more than low temperatures that is wind. If you think about Patagonia, especially southern Patagonia, you have to know that it's a very, very windy place with winds that can go more than 100 kilometers per hour. So of course, we have to adapt the vineyard and protect the vineyard with natural curtains of trees planted in high density. And with some artificial protection, that it's nets, like hail nets kind of, but just to stop the wind speed, in order not to get our structure damaged, the leaves, the roots, flowers, and of course, the fruit when it's ready. So again, once you sort this extreme condition, the collateral effect is very good, because we have almost no humidity displays. So the place is so dry that we have no vines disease. So it's a very natural organic spontaneous place. And we have some effects of gills controlled. So we pick up no more than one kilogram of fruit per vine, actually less than that. And that help us to achieve the quality one, because this is a very high end wind project. And we have some effects like the grossing of the skin. You know, the thickness is very thick. So no, the opposite. It's a thick. So we have a lot of structure there and color and flavors. So these extreme conditions that can be like headache and real challenge, once you control them, they become the key factor to make this place unique. And then, of course, in such a cold place, it would be impossible to think on ripe wines, you know, aromatic wines, because you would think that the alcohol level will be very low. But this is not what happened, because we have such an extreme sunlight, especially in springtime, that we can have more than two hours extra hours of light during springtime that allow us to ripe grapes and to produce 13% alcohol wines. But it's not only about alcohol, it's about fruit expression. It's about intensity. So the wines are very rich, but at the same time has a very intense CED. So the combination of these two opposite factors make an incredible balance and one of a kind wines. So what I'm hearing is it's really hard for these grapes, but the ones that make it are really good quality and the wines that are produced are just as high quality. Yeah, and it's not only the place, but it's our interpretation of the place, because we are doing a very precise viticulture program. We just can't all the land we have. So then we did a map of different soil characteristics, because soil is different there, it's unique there, because it has nothing to be with you know, Mendoza's kind of soil, where most of the important wines are coming from the feet of the Andes, you know, very alluvial, high altitude kind of soil here is completely different. We are in low altitude, we are in clay and sandy kind of soil with some different rocks. So it's so heterogeneous that we have to do that. We did a very deep research on the soil characteristics, and then we subdivided the property in 52 different small plots or batches. So that's precision viticulture. So we combine an incredible place to rock conditions with a very, you know, precise technique of viticulture and winemaking. So the combination, it's what we haven't overwise, unique wines. So what grapes are you growing here? Well, mostly Pinot Noir, Chardonnay. There are the two main grapes, this maybe 75% of the project is about Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, but then we have some specialities, like gibburs from here, reasoning, Merlot, it's beautiful Merlot, a little bit of Malbec, Taurantes, that it's a Argentinian native grape. And what else? Well, we have just planted a little bit of Sauignon Blanc, but we have to wait, well, normally when you plant a vineyard, you have to wait for a few years, three, four years to your first picking. In this place, you have to wait like seven, eight years, or eight years, much more because the conditions, the vines take a little bit longer to be ready to produce. So, but we'll see. We have everything we grow there is giving us great results. So you mentioned the ice wine, what grapes are you using for the ice wine? This is Geburst, Geburst, Chardonnay, Chardonnay. This is very cold, but not cold enough to freeze the grapes. So we've been waiting for almost 10 years to have the cold season we can have. So it happened this year. That's the reason when we're talking that I mentioned you that I couldn't have the trip program this week to go to Patagonia, I have to cancel because there's a snow storm that is so strong that I couldn't go there. And that's explained, this is the coldest year we ever had. And that allow us to freeze grapes naturally. And we did pressing with the frost grapes, and we have a grape juice with high concentration of sugar and a CED. And it's not fermenting. We have to wait some time to see the result, but they look very good. All right, we'll be looking out for that one. So how do you even get to the winery? I mean, do you take a small plane? Like, I'm curious, how do you even get there? Well, I'm very, very lucky because the local, the national airline that is Harelian Sargentines goes to a big city that is kind of close to the place, that is Comorro Rivera, that's a big city. So I travel there. I have every single day, I have a flight, so I can take a flight. Every day, I go there once a month, but I can go easily get there. But it's very difficult to go driving because it's 2,000 kilometers where I live in Mendoza. So, but well, there is a plane that goes there. It's very easy for me. Yeah, I've visited parts of Patagonian. I know it's a lot further than it seems on a map. You're a big, big area down there. Wow, 2,000 kilometers, you know, in Europe, you may cross like four countries with that distance. But it worth it. Well, good. Well, unfortunately, we have to wrap up here. I could spend all day talking about this unique place in the world. But if folks want to learn more about Othronia and your winemaking, is there a place to follow on the internet, on social media? Yes, we have a website that is called Othronia Patagonia Xtrema. And on Instagram, it's the same. And you can see there, you know, weekly post, we have just, you know, published a post of the this week conditions that are unique of like a big climate movement of cold, you know, air, you know, Argentina and Patagonia. This week is the coldest place in the world, even coldest and Royalania, for example. So it's very extreme. It would be interesting to follow along, that's for sure. Well, thank you, Juan Pablo, for joining us. I appreciate your time today and learning more about this extreme winemaking. Thanks, Jacqueline. It's a pleasure to talk to you. Always great news from Jacqueline Coleman. I'm Linda Gastonheimer. Thanks for tuning in. Join us next time for more food news and news. [Music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (upbeat music)