Mendoza Argentina
Wine Spectator 87
"Light and fresh, with a tasty beam of raspberry and cherry fruit backed by modest, well-integrated toast. There's a nice lingering licorice note. Drink now. 65,000 cases made."
The Altos Las Hormigas Malbec is dark red, and is a terroir-driven fruit-bomb. It offers a generous nose of plums, dark cherries and berries with good notes of earth. It is lush and velvety sweet, with folds and folds of dark fruit. With beautiful balance and such opulence, this wine is sure to please.
It is the main production, deriving from grapes harvested at the end of March, 50% from estate owned vineyards in the Lujan, 50% from grapes bought from contracted vignerons from the La Consulta sub-zone (Valle de Uco) of the Mendoza appellation. The destemmed and softly pressed grapes are vinified in stainless steel vats at 30? Celsius. During the 15 day fermentation-maceration process the must is pumped over and punched down for optimal extraction. Part of the wine then stays in steel and part goes into small oak for a period of nine months. The wine is then bottled without any form of stabilization or filtration, in order not to alter its quality, and is sold after three months of bottle age