Wine & Spirits - October 2020 - 83

the oldest vines, dating to 1920, on the valley
floor. This is a blend of 85 percent carmenère
with 15 percent cabernet sauvignon, their
fruit combining in ripe black fig notes and
creamy-rich tannins. The oak is integrated
and seems to power the fruit through a long
finish, suggesting this will age with grace. §
MundoVino/Winebow Imports, NY
125753

91 | Santa Rita

Our blind panels tasted 226 red wines from Mendoza over the past 12 months. Our critic
for Argentina, Tara Q. Thomas, rated 52 as exceptional (90+) and 11 as Best Buys.
Subscribers can find a complete list of wines tasted, and all reviews, at
wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

$20

2018 Colchagua Valley Medalla Real Gran
Reserva Carmenère (Best Buy) ^ This has the
satin richness of ripe black-cherry flesh, its
tannins even darker without becoming chocolatey. The lasting impression is lean, herbal
and bright, with a savory meatiness that will
match sweet Italian sausages. § Santa Rita USA
Corp., Coral Gables, FL
125738

89 | Carmen

$18

89 | Viña Siegel

$16

2018 Colchagua Gran Reserva Carmenère
(Best Buy) ^ Soft and simple, this is a spicy,
black wine with a cool feel to the fruit. It finishes a little sweet, on ripe strawberry flavors
and cayenne spice. For carnitas. § Santa Rita
USA Corp., Coral Gables, FL
125702
2018 Colchagua Valley Special Reserve
Carmenère (Best Buy) ^ Black with the
smoky bacon scents of oak, this hides some
floral notes and blackberry flavors behind its
tannins. Tense and a little bitter, it would be
open to charcuterie. § Kysela Père et Fils, Winchester, VA

SYR A H
125737

88 | Carmen

YEAR'S BEST
MENDOZA MALBECS

$18

2018 Colchagua Gran Reserva El Granito
Vineyard Syrah (Best Buy) ^ Syrah living
large: This wine's ripe extract is bathed in
red and purple fruit, holding clean to rhubarb and floral grape flavor. It's simple and
blunt, built for grilled lamb. § Santa Rita USA
Corp., Coral Gables, FL n

125889

96 | Weinert

$240

95 | Catena Zapata

$120

1994 Mendoza Estrella Malbec ^ Brazilian
businessman Bernard Weinert founded this
winery in 1975, purchasing a dilapidated 19thcentury cellar and hiring winemaker Raúl de
la Mota to help him rejuvenate it. In 1977,
they released the first vintage of Estrella, a
barrel-aged malbec of uncommon finesse
and complexity that sent waves through the
wine world. This 1994-made by de la Mota
before his retirement, and then shepherded
through 16 years of barrel-aging by Hubert
Weber-should send waves through the
wine world today: After all, how many other
Argentine malbecs could age so well? Made
from fruit handpicked off vines that were 60
years old at the time, fermented in epoxylined cement tanks and aged in large, neutral
French-oak casks, it's astoundingly alive: It
has the rich, earthy scent of freshly turned
soil, with notes of mint and tobacco adding
finesse; the fruit feels plump and chocolatey,
even as its red shades have taken on the caramel and apricot hues of age. It's an entirely
different vision of malbec than today's purple beauties, and one well worth reinstating. §
Broadbent Selections, Richmond, VA
125830
2018 Mendoza Nicasia Vineyard Malbec ^
Nicolás Catena planted this vineyard in La
Consulta in 1996, with vines selected from
his family's 80-year-old Angelica Vineyard
in Lunlunta. At 3,600 feet in altitude, Nicasia is considerably higher and cooler than
Lunlunta (the average temperature is below
58˚F); the massal selection is planted on its
own roots. Those vines yielded a fresh, concentrated wine in 2018: It's super youthful, a
jumble of red fruit, oak and spice right out of
the bottle, bold and boisterous in its energy.
As it takes on air in the glass, the wood tones
melt into the fruit, the wine becoming more
savory while the flavors keep juicing up-floral, herbal, smoky, earthy, salty. Fine tannins
give it shape and hold the flavors fresh for
days after the bottle is opened. § MundoVino/
Winebow Imports, NY
125774

95 | Trapiche

$50

2017 La Consulta Terroir Series Finca
Orellana Malbec ^ Trapiche is one of Argentina's largest wineries, owning more than
3,200 acres of vineyards and contracting
with farmers on thousands more. Vintner
Daniel Pi highlights some of the most outstanding parcels among them in the Terroir Series, like this bottling, from a 71-yearold vineyard at 3,247 feet in elevation in La
Consulta. It's plush and elegant, with floral
notes that accentuate the grace of its structure: With the finesse of its tannins and the
supple, saturated-but-weightless quality of its
plummy flavors, it feels like wrapping yourself in yards of royal purple silk. § The Wine
Group, Ripon, CA

125875

95 | Trapiche

$70

2015 Mendoza Iscay Malbec & Cabernet
Franc ^ Cabernet franc grown in La Consulta
infuses this wine with verve. Thirty percent
of the blend, it's there in the wine's spicy
scent-in the tang of tobacco leaves and the
crunch of green herbs-as well as in its tannins, a little more angular and pointed than
is typical of malbec. Those aspects keep the
wine feeling fresh and elegant even as age
has begun to turn its rich red fruit toward
caramel, earth and roasted red pepper tones.
It's approachable now, but it also has enough
structure and freshness to warrant more
aging. § The Wine Group, Ripon, CA
125890

WINE & SPIRITS

OCTOBER 2020

83
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Wine & Spirits - October 2020

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