Altos Las Hormigas Gualtallary Malbec 2017

Description

We think the Altos Las Hormigas Gualtallary Malbec is a knock-out red wine from Argentina. Altos Las Hormigas works beautifully with many meat dishes. If you feel like steak, grill it, slice it thinly, and drape it on an arugula salad with shaved parmesan and a garlicky vinaigrette. Pan-fried pork chops with a plum/cardamom compote will work beautifully too. Old habits die hard winelovers. Make a sage, white pepper, salt and garlic butter in the food processor and then spread it liberally under the skin of a small chicken. Roast until the skin is crispy, and serve with silky mashed potatoes. You’ll be glad you did. Or, make a classic Coq au Vin with mushrooms and onions. Thin crust sausage pizza with a couple of anchovies layered on is another delicious choice for this versatile wine. On the lighter, meat-free side, putting a glass of this Mendoza Malbec next to a mushroom lasagna will not disappoint either. It’s spaghetti and giant turkey meatballs for dinner around here… Suculento! Robert Parker, Jr.’s Wine Advocate: “After some ups and downs in past vintages, the 2017 Malbec Appellation Gualtallary is every bit as good as the already superb 2016. It’s expressive, mineral and vertical, austere, like biting into chalk. It’s produced with grapes from a rented plot in a somewhat fashionable appellation that is quite large and diverse. The palate is super austere, dry, serious and mineral, while the nose is expressive and has the wilderness of the place with unusual elegance and freshness for a year like 2017. It finishes long and tasty, with some violets. Could this be their best Gualtallary to date? Drink date: 2019-2030.” Oct 2019Winery: “This Malbec fully shows you its origins: Gualtallary. In this vintage particularly, the character- istics of this terroir favored the wine. Especially the soils of this appellation, with its marked slopes and its low humidity retention capacity, helped the excess of water -in a year that was more rainy than average in the area- to drain easily and benefit grape concentration. A solid violet red color reveals a dense, concentrated, compact wine. Notes of spices and minerality make a complex nose. On the palate, a supple entry, dark berries and spices. A very structured and quite wild Malbec, with firm fine-grain tannins, showing its calcareous foundations and columns. The mouth feel is full of thrilling freshness and balance, with a long and persistent finish.” Bottle 750ml Varietal100% Malbec Alcohol % 14.0%Total Acidity 5.62 g/l pH3.8AgingAged 22 months in 3,500 liter untoasted Foudres RegionUco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina