Passionate Wines Via Revolucionaria La Criolla Grande 2019
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Robert
Parker
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This 100% hand harvested Criolla Grande is from Campo Vidal, a single vineyard within Tupungato, Uco Valley. The lifted and bright nose shows notes of cherry, strawberry, raspberry, dried rose petals, and milk chocolate. The palate is light and fresh with good acidity and bright red fruit shining through. The finish shows macerated raspberries with a hint of cinnamon, crushed dried leaves, and orange peel.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Via Revolucionaria Criolla Grande was first produced in 2016 (with a very small volume), but I had never tasted it before. It comes from vines planted in the 1940s with a blend of Criolla grapes (including some Cereza and even Criolla Chica) in Campo Vidal in Tupungato. It achieved 11% alcohol after fermenting with native yeasts in concrete eggs, first with the skins and then pressed and finished fermenting without skins. It's a bright and light cherry color, almost like a dark rosé, and has a juicy, pleasant and appealing personality, straightforward and easy to enjoy. The palate is light and refreshing, with clean flavors, and it has a finish lifted up by good acidity. This should go down well with tapas.
Passionate Wines is the brainchild of Matias Michelini. He is the winemaker, agronomist, and Grand Poobah of his winery named Passionate Wines. Matias strives to make experimental wines that express terroir. These wines are low production and are drawn from multiple inspirations, regions, and styles. The Via Revolucionaria wines are single vineyard, unconventional wines, fermented with native yeast. He produces a skin macerated Torrontes “Brutal”, an unfiltered Semillon “Hulk”, and a carbonic macerated and fermented Bonarda “Pura”. The Montesco wines are small production wines that focus on place and varietals. Matias continues to experiment with other cuvees with the mantra of producing either atypical varietals or classic varietals in non-traditional methods.
Planted as the first vitis vinifera wine grape in the U.S., País has a long significant history in the Americas. Originally from Spain, where the grape is known as Listán Prieto, it was brought by Spanish colonists to Mexico in 1540 and, later, during the late 1700s, to Mission San Diego in California where it would take on another new name, Mission. Propagated for its use as a sacramental wine, Mission remained important in California until the spread of phylloxera in the 1880s. Somm Secret—In Chile it is called Pais. In Argentina, Pais is known as Criolla Chica.
By far the largest and best-known winemaking province in Argentina, Mendoza is responsible for over 70% of the country’s enological output. Set in the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountains, the climate is dry and continental, presenting relatively few challenges for viticulturists during the growing season. Mendoza, divided into several distinctive sub-regions, including Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, is the source of some of the country’s finest wines.
For many wine lovers, Mendoza is practically synonymous with Malbec. Originally a Bordelaise variety brought to Argentina by the French in the mid-1800s, here it found success and renown that it never knew in its homeland where a finicky climate gives mixed results. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir are all widely planted here as well (and sometimes even blended with each other or Malbec). Mendoza's main white varieties include Chardonnay, Torrontés, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.