Altos Las Hormigas Gualtallary Malbec 2019
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Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
This is an explosive wine that fills all your senses. A brilliant Malbec with a deep ruby color, showing also rich violet hues. The nose is herbaceous and shows fruity and saline notes, with very present aromas of graphite, as well as thyme, blueberries, plums, and violets. The complexity on the nose is also appreciated on the mouth. This is a structured and vertical wine, with firm tannins. It has a great grip on the palate and a long, fruity finish with mineral notes, typical of its place of origin: a vineyard with limestone soils in the heights of the Uco Valley.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Malbec Appellation Gualtallary comes from specific soils, two small three-hectare plots in the Cerros del Jaboncillo, where they find more caliche and limestone in Tupungato Winelands. They believe this place transmits the maximum expression of limestone to Malbec, giving a structured wine with fine-grained tannins with the wilderness from Gualtallary. It fermented in small concrete vats with indigenous yeasts at some 26 degrees Celsius for 20 days. Eighty-five percent of the volume matured in untoasted 3,500-liter French oak foudres for 20 months while the rest was kept in concrete. They sell it a little later than the Altamira because they feel Gualtallary needs a little more time in bottle; therefore, they are now offering the 2019 vintage, a very balanced wine that talks about the place where it was born.
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James Suckling
Dense and powerful, but in a very fresh and scented way, with violet, hibiscus, oyster-shell and hot-stone notes to the black and blue fruit. Almost a bit gamey with some wet earth. Full-bodied and quite dense on the palate. There is volume, with succulents and real structure, and, of course, some fine austerity. Quite puristic and intellectual, far from flattering. Give it some time to fully unwind itself. Best from 2025.
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In 1995 Alberto Antonini, a well-known Tuscan winemaker, and Antonio Morescalchi, a young entrepreneur, took a trip to visit the burgeoning wine areas of South America. It only took one stop to find what they were looking for. They were immediately impressed by the vineyards thriving in the high altitude and dry climate of Mendoza, and were captivated by the whispered traditions and blend of cultures.
They returned to Tuscany powerfully impressed not only by the region, but also by the unexplored potential of Malbec, a grape that had a strong local tradition but was largely ignored and misunderstood. While the rest of the wine world saw Mendoza struggling to shed its bulk wine image, the two young Italians saw Mendoza as a place where traditional viticultural values and unblemished land could be reinvigorated with a modern winemaking approach and international experience. Instead of planting Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as many others were doing during the 1990s, the team decided to invest their confidence in Malbec. Today, Malbec is the varietal for which Argentina is best known.
Against all odds they cemented their vision to become Terroir Specialists Shortly after, two friends and business partners, also enthused by the idea, joined the venture: Attilio Pagli, a renowned Tuscan winemaker with two 100 point-scoring wines in his personal record and Carlos Vazquez, an Argentine Agronomist, who work for 20 years with the early Catena group, planting new varieties, developing previously unknown vineyard sites and contributing greatly to the qualitative change of Argentine viticulture early on.
Celebrated for its bold flavors and supple texture, Malbec has enjoyed runaway success in Argentina since the late 20th century. The grape originated in Bordeaux, France, where it historically contributed color and tannin to blends. A French agronomist, who saw great potential for the variety in Mendoza’s hot, high-altitude landscape, brought Malbec to Argentina in 1868. Somm Secret—If you’re trying to please a crowd, Malbec is generally a safe bet with its combination of dense fruit and soft tannins.
With a winning combination of cool weather, high elevation and well-draining alluvial soils, it is no surprise that Mendoza’s Uco Valley is one of the most exciting up-and-coming wine regions in Argentina. Healthy, easy-to-manage vines produce low yields of high-quality fruit, which in turn create flavorful, full-bodied wines with generous acidity.
This is the source of some of the best Malbec in Mendoza, which can range from value-priced to ultra-premium. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay also perform well here.