Mendoza

The nose of smoky bacon on the 2013 Chento Malbec Vineyard Selection transported me to the Rhône, but it has no Syrah, as it's Malbec with 10% Cabernet Franc. The grapes were sourced from La Consulta in the Uco Valley and the wine matured for 12 months in French oak barrels (40% new), which had a great influence on the wine, mainly in the palate where you get the wood tannins and the sweet spices in the flavors. It needs more time in bottle. For fans of oaky reds. 30,000 bottles.
Luis Gutiérrez - Wine Advocate, 28th Aug 2015

Alpamanta are pioneers of Argentine bio-dynamic farming and minimal intervention wine—making.  This approach has spawned a subtly oaked Chardonnay wine, with tropical fruit ripeness well balanced by citrus freshness, which has developed very well in bottle, despite an expectation that it might have been drunk earlier.  A very pleasant surprise.

In 2002 a group of friends bought land in the premium Gualtallaray zone of the Uco Valley. A well-known local winemaker used their fruit for his top terroir wine. His first vintage of the Malbec achieved 94 Parker points, leading the wines to be bottled under the autonomous Ambrosía label. The 2013 is the debut vintage of Ambrosía’s Chardonnay and it is impressive.

Warm lemon and white peach aromas are followed by riper flavours of yellow apple and nectarine, accompanied by toasty notes of lees-ageing. Ripe but refined with good texture and length, this is exclusive to Berry Bros. & Rudd in the UK. Match with roast loin of pork, macaroni cheese, Gruyère cheese.

In 2002 a group of friends bought land in the premium Gualtallaray zone of the Uco Valley. A well-known local winemaker used their fruit for his top terroir wine. His first vintage of the Malbec achieved 94 Parker points, leading the wines to be bottled under the autonomous Ambrosía label. The 2013 is the debut vintage of Ambrosía’s Chardonnay and it is impressive.

If this wine’s bouquet of black fruit, cedar and pencil shavings (pointing to Gualtallary’s gravel soils) is classical and relatively restrained, the palate is downright exuberant: a juggernaut of ripe fruit and sculpted, yet velvety tannins, propelled by mouth-watering acidity. The 2013 has all the attributes to improve over the next five years, but is drinking beautifully now, preferably with rare roast or grilled beef.

This is Cuarto Dominio’s top wine, sourced from two particularly well-sited parcels in La Consulta vineyard, which lies at 980 metres’ altitude before a spectacular Andean backdrop. The combination of sun-kissed days and freezing colds nights delivers grapes that are both perfectly ripe and high in acidity. For the lucky drinker, this means bags of flavour, massive yet rounded tannins and, crucially, mouth-watering freshness.

An extraordinarily concentrated and complex wine, this is hard to resist now but with the faculties to improve over the next five or more years. Blackberry, dark chocolate and dried flowers begin a long procession of aromas, which – with time in the glass or decanter – become increasingly savoury in character. Don’t stop swirling until you get smoky bacon! Like many of Mendoza’s best wines, it finishes on a beguiling saline note. Memorable stuff.

Graphite, damsons and mocha on the nose. There is sweet spice as well. There is a huge volume of fruit on both the nose and palate, perfectly balanced by fully ripe and integrated tannins and a mineral freshness. There is a vanillin note from the oak on the finish but it’s not overwhelming. A very impressive effort. Perfect for a couple of years in the cellar then drinking over the following decade. The best yet.
Fergus Stewart - Private Account Manager

Characteristic dark chocolate notes from the Malbec ensure you know where this is from but the 2010 also shows all the benefits of a cooler vintage in Argentina; full, powerful and ripe but there’s a freshness and finesse which one associates with fine Bordeaux. The 2010 reminds me of the fantastic 2007 Cheval des Andes, the wines of this estate are becoming more focussed and pure when the climate allows.
Martyn Rolph -  Private Account Manager

A New World Grand Cru - Cheval des Andes is a high-end wine project that’s a collaboration between Terrazas de los Andes and Pierre Lurton of Cheval Blanc. The joint venture was proposed by Pierre Lurton in 1999 when he realized the potential for top quality wines that existed in certain sites in Mendoza. 

Lurton was eager in connecting again with the grape of Saint Emilion’s past: Malbec. A grape that was decimated by phylloxera in the 1860s from its position as one of the most important varieties in Saint Emilion and Pomerol.  It has since been reincarnated at Cheval des Andes in an un grafted form in Argentina, producing some of the world’s best Malbecs in recent years. 

Today Pierre Lurton acts as Managing Director of Cheval des Andes alongside Winemaker Nicholas Audebert. Cheval des Andes wines are a blend of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from the high elevation, 77 year old "Las Compuertas" vineyards near Mendoza. Some of the Malbec vines are as old as the vineyard itself and ungrafted.

The 2009 is dark, dense and brooding, a gentle coaxing reveals cassis, damson, black pepper and a touch of tobacco leaf. Big bright fruit on the palate is weaved into subtle and velvety tannins. There is an impressive level of detail here, with the oak perfectly integrated to the polished fruit. 59% Malbec, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. This is a fine example of the potential that leading Chateau have seen in Mendoza. A perfect match for carne asada.
Fergus Stewart, Private Account Manager