Wine Reviews

A robust version, with cocoa bean and roasted plum aromas that match the rich palate, which is filled with chocolate-laced cherry and plum flavors. Traces of minerality and fresh herbs break up the lush fruit, with a hint of coffee bean filling out the smooth-textured finish.

The 2018 Malbec Temis, usually my favorite from the single-vineyard bottlings, was sourced from a vineyard planted in 1938 in El Cepillo at 1,040 meters in altitude on limestone-rich soils. It’s ripe without excess at 14.5% alcohol and feels quite classical; it’s serious with some austerity, still young and undeveloped and aging at a very slow speed. It has the aromatics of the Mediterranean plants—thyme, rosemary, lavender and rockrose—and integrated oak.

From vines planted in 1938 at 3,412 feet in El Cepillo, a sub-region in the Uco Valley, comes this silky Malbec. Fresh strawberry aromas on the nose are inviting. It has finely grained tannins and lots of red fruit flavors in the form of blackberries and strawberries on the palate.

There’s a touch of bark, grilled Mediterranean spice savoriness to the rich but fresh blackberries, salted black plums and graphite notes. Pretty saline and flavorful on the palate. The tannins are powerful yet fine-grained. A structured and characterful malbec from old vines in El Cepillo.