Altos Las Hormigas Clasico Malbec

$112.42 / case(12)

$9.97

Description

‘tasting notes this luminous cherry colored malbec with pink hues offers a delicate first nose of red currant minty blackberry leaves and tenuous smoky notes. Aromas of passion fruit accompanied by gentle white pepper complete its cheerful bouquet. This is confirmed on the palate in a light bodied silky wine with very delicate tannins along with mango and crunchy plum notes. On the finish sweet spices and dried herbs linger with a fleshy natural acidity which makes altos las hormigas malbec clasico the perfect pairing for light cuisine or white meat. Vintage 2013 the lack of spring rains and the absence of extensive frosts allowed a very good blooming of the vines while hail damages – a constant threat for high altitude vineyards – were negligible. The growing season has been uneven starting with high temperatures and becoming cooler later on. The heat came back before the beginning of the harvest but then a cold wave hit mendoza at the middle of march resulting in a slow maturation. Therefore grapes were showing admirable level of acidity lower alcohol content and fine tannins. Winemaking grapes from different vineyards are vinified separately before the final blend. After a careful double sorting process the grapes are softly pressed and fer- mented with indigenous yeasts in order to express each of the selected vine- yard. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks between 24-28 c for 10 days. Each tank is tasted three times a day to determine what is needed. The must is pumped over up to three times a day for extraction with two rack-and-returns. The wine is then aged for 10 months in concrete piletas. Terroir & soil structure a blend of 100% malbec grapes harvested by hand from our vineyard in medrano and from surrounding vineyards. We choose deep fresh soils to delay ripening and avoid hydric stress. These are sandy loams where the clay component provides mineral nu- trients and water retention while the sand component prevents the silt and clay part from compacting excessively and guarantees water drainage. In this climate we avoid soils with abundant superficial gravel which increases the warming effect and might shorten the ripening season- which we rely on to give our malbec its intensity and flavor.’ – altos las hormigas

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