Wine Reviews
This red is elegant at first, with a dried bay leaf detail to the spicy floral and cherry paste aromas. Offers a rich layer of roasted plum and brambly blackberry before ending with ripe but polished tannins and a twinge of cocoa bean. Shows persistence on the finish.
Patrick d’Aulan’s family has been involved in Champagne for nearly 250 years, but in 1998 he assembled a dream team of Argentine and French winemakers and growers to express the high-altitude terroirs of Mendoza. Malbec grapes are sourced from 100-year-old vines endowing this captivating wine with flavors of blackberry, black plum, and cassis that explode in the mouth.
Dark chocolate, blackberries, graphite, mineral, cigar box, pencil shaving and a touch of black pepper. Layered and complex, showing good finesse and well-judged ripeness from this vintage. On the palate, it is full, juicy and structured, with firm, mealy tannins and an extensive finish. A year where this Alto managed to show good drinkability. Quite refined from a more challengingly dry and warm vintage with a touch of Bordeaux bearing
A nose featuring black pepper, flint and green bell pepper introduce this well-balanced blend of 85% Malbec and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards in Luján de Cuyo and Uco Valley. Ripe cherry and red plums merge with light notes of black pepper, green bell pepper and hints of smoke on the soft palate. It has a persistent pleasant finish.
The top of the range is the red blend 2018 Alto, produced with grapes from Luján de Cuyo and Valle de Uco, with 50% Malbec from Las Compuertas, 35% Malbec from Campo de los Andes and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon from El Cepillo. It’s ripe with 15% alcohol and has mellow acidity. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in new 600-liter French oak barrels for 20 months. This is still marked by the élevage, but the oak is not the main player here. It’s a classical and serious red with abundant fine-grained tannins. It is going to develop nicely with time in bottle. 6,000 bottles were filled in December 2020. They have now purchased some oak vats for the fermentation too.
