If you want to taste a red that expresses the quintessence of high-altitude Gualtallary in the Uco Valley, look no further than this stunning assemblage of Cabernet Franc with 35% Malbec and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon from one of the best-ever vintages in Argentina. Aged in deftly handled 50% new wood, it’s wonderfully fresh and well-balanced, with thyme and wet stone aromas, racy acidity and tangy red plum and black cherry fruit.
Country: Argentina
2019 Colomé Altitude Blend, Salta
( £13, 14.5%, The Co-op )This remarkable Salta blend may not come from the highest vineyards in the world, but they’re still pretty elevated at 2,300 metres. Malbec based with 10% Tannat and 5% Cabernet Franc, it’s a delicious northern Argentinian red from French winemaker Thibaut Delmotte, with lovely laurel and rosemary perfume, ripe fig and mulberry fruit, a dusting of aromatic spices from subtle oak ageing, plenty of body and texture and more than enough acidity to freshen and brighten the finish. Just the thing for the first barbecue of the year.
2020 Specially Selected Buenos Vides Argentinian Malbec, Uco Valley, Mendoza
( £5.79, 14%, Aldi )When Aldi’s on form, no other UK retailer can match its value-for-money wines. This is almost ludicrously good at the price – a high-altitude Malbec from top Uco Valley producer Salentein at only £5.79 a bottle. Smooth, scented and very lightly wooded, with classic Mendoza freshness, texture and intensity of colour. Violet and fennel aromas segue into a palate of plum, blackberry and liquorice, with supple tannins and a bright, lingering finish. The perfect barbecue red under £6. Bring on the summer.
2019 Viñalta Malbec, Mendoza
( £9.00, 14%, Marks & Spencer )Frenchman Hervé Joyaux Fabre makes some of the best value Malbecs in Argentina, as well as some equally smart top-end wines in Mendoza, Patagonia and back in Cahors. This red from the excellent 2019 vintage is entirely unoaked, leaving the variety to sing at the top of its lungs. Floral, enticing and juicy, it has supple, undulating tannins, zesty acidity and a core of bramble and blackberry fruit. Just the thing to cheer you up now that the clocks have gone back.
2019 Susana Balbo Signature White Blend, Uco Valley, Mendoza
( £17.99, 13% )This pioneering white blend of Semillón with 35% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Torrontés from the brilliant Susana Balbo and her team has rapidly established itself as one of the best in Latin America. Barrel fermented in 60% new wood, it’s leesy, toasty and very fresh, with a lovely combination of beeswax, pink grapefruit and struck match flavours, a dusting of sweet spices and engaging elegance. Contact Las Bodegas for local stockists.
2018 Riccitelli Wines Hey! Malbec, Mendoza
( £10.99, 14%, Majestic )Unwooded for the first time in 2018, but as full of bounce and blackberry fruit as ever, Hey! combines grapes from Luján and the Uco Valley in a juicy, supple bundle of fun. Sweet and appealing, this is Malbec at its immediate best: the kind of thing that makes you want to pour a glass into a tumbler and put on some of your favourite music with the sound ramped up to 11.
Listán Prieto: the New World’s original grape variety
by Tim Atkin
Compiling a list of the ten best red and white grapes is an entertaining parlour game for consenting wine lovers. Should Chardonnay trump Riesling and Chenin Blanc? And what about...
2017 Riccittelli Wines Hey! Malbec, Mendoza
( £12.99, 14%, Majestic )Hey! is a wine that grabs your attention with its super hero label as it caresses your palate with the supple tannins of a delicious Argentinean Malbec. Made with old vine fruit from Mendoza’s Luján de Cuyo sub-region, it’s a plush, perfumed juicy red with violet perfume, a kiss of oak and lashings of bramble and blackberry fruit. Wonderfully gluggable.
Bad times in Buenos Aires
by Tim Atkin
Every year at the end of my three-week tour of Argentina, I sit down with Dr Nicolas Catena of Bodega Catena Zapata for breakfast. He, inevitably, wants to talk about...
Floral testimony
by Matt Walls
In the car park on my street there is a rose bush. Every so often when walking past I pause to cup one of the red flowers in my hand,...
2014 Zorzal, Eggo Malbec, Tupungato, Mendoza
( £15.95, 13.5%, Corkingwines.co.uk, Slurp )Fermented and aged in concrete eggs, as its name suggests, this is a wonderful blend of Malbec with a little Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Michelini brothers. Typically light and refreshing, with sappy, tangy, black cherry flavours, bright acidity and no wood at all. Modern Argentina at its refreshing, spicy best.
South America’s march on the future
by Tim Atkin
This year is the 200th anniversary of one of the key events in Latin American history. In January 1817, the Army of the Andes set off from Mendoza, determined to...