Really juicy red, with raspberry, red currant and boysenberry fruit flavors mixed with racy mineral, briar and floral notes. Long, mouthwatering finish brings you back for more. Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2008. 4,965 cases made, 2,100 cases imported.??–JM??Region: Argentina / Mendoza Select to Add

(a blend of 40% malbec, 28% cabernet sauvignon, 27% merlot and 5% cabernet franc; this spent a year on its fine lees and was bottled without fining or filtration) Saturated ruby. Blackberry pie, black cherry, licorice and spice cake on the nose. Juicy, primary and sweet, with very ripe, intense black fruit flavors. Firm acids give the wine a penetrating, slightly clenched quality. Very pure and focused, but still youthfully tight. Much sweeter and stronger than the basic '04 malbec but in need of a couple years of cellaring. Italian enologist Roberto Cipresso is a partner here and in charge of winemaking; he has been instrumental in creating single-vineyard malbec bottlings to discover how this variety expresses its terroir in various sites. This fruit is picked two or three weeks before the rest, notes Santiago Achaval, which enables the wine to keep very good acidity.