ARGENTINA
Bodegas Bianchi, IV Generación Gran Corte, Los Chacayes, Tunuyán, Uco Valley, Mendoza 2019 (14.5%)
The anatomisation of Uco is one of the wine world’s great adventures at present: it’s been obvious for some years that the resource is a splendid one. If you harbour any doubts, try to get hold of a bottle of this midnight-black blend of Malbec with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Head-turning fruit perfumes are always possible here – but harnessing and optimising that aromatic potential is the point of this blend, which actually steals from the glass stealthily and convinces by slow increments. On the palate, the wine is wide, amply dimensioned and naturally balanced, with textural wealth. The blend has brought complexity to what is clearly outstanding fruit. It’s young still, and a few years in the cellar will provide further insights into this finely crafted Uco classic.
A DWWA Best in Show that encapsulates the modern-day incarnation of its creator, Bodegas Bianchi, which was founded almost 100 years ago by Italian immigrant Valentin Bianchi.
Named to celebrate the most recent generation of family ownership, this blend of 60% Malbec, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot reflects the terroir-focused work undertaken by chief winemaker Silvio Alberto since he came on board five years ago.
‘The terroir is the protagonist,’ says Alberto.‘We are always looking for the ideal terroir. In this blend we have the best grapes from selected blocks of our Los Chacayes vineyard.
‘Los Chacayes is one of the best terroirs in Argentina for several reasons. We have a lot of rocks in our alluvial soils which deliver freshness, a mineral component and expressive fruit notes. Furthermore, the high altitude – 1,100m – at the foot of the Andes brings colour, tannin maturation and wines with nerve and a unique personality.’
Crafted in a brand-new winery dedicated to the estate’s premium wines, this spent time in 750-litre ceramic amphorae and French oak, with 7,900 bottles produced.
ARGENTINA
Finca Sophenia, Altosur Malbec, Gualtallary, Tupungato, Uco Valley, Mendoza 2021 (14%)
£12.50-£14.99 Ellis Wines, Highbury Vintners, The Naked Grape It’s fair to say that no other country delivered value in this year’s DWWA in the way that Argentina did, and this saturatedly dense, dark Malbec from the prized highlands of Gualtallary makes this point admirably. It’s initially beefy and purposeful in aroma, the plum and sloe fruits emerging in purer form with time in the glass or decanter. There’s admirable weight, lyricism and lift to those fruits: Gualtallary is never clumsy.
Better still, in place of overt tannins and intrusive acidity there is a kind of sappy, stemmy freshness that combines the function of both texture and acidity – and that, in fact, is the origin of the fruit’s notable energy and charm. Value Best in Show wines rarely exceed the appeal you’ll find here.
Finca Sophenia was founded in the late 1990s by Roberto Luka, who named it after his partner’s daughter Sophia, and his own, Eugenia. Luka was president of Wines of Argentina from
2004-2006, and the managing director of one of the country’s largest wine exporters, so was arguably ahead of the game when it came to deciding where to lay the foundations of his own winery, the nod going to Gualtallary, a lofty region celebrated for its distinctive wines.
Finca Sophenia’s 130ha of vines are on the cusp of being certified organic and sit on rocky, sandy, mountainous terrain irrigated by snowmelt from the Andes.
‘Our aim with Altosur Malbec is to express the freshness, elegance and nature of our place in Gualtallary,’ says Eugenia Luka. ‘It has proved to be a unique location that produces remarkable Malbecs.
‘Everything we do is focused on our customers – we are always working to satisfy them, and our thinking is that next year’s wine must be better than the previous vintage.’
First produced in 2003, Finca Sophenia’s winner is fermented in stainless steel before spending three to four months in French oak.
ARGENTINA
Morrisons, The Best Gran Montaña Reserve Malbec, Uco Valley, Mendoza 2020 (14%)
£8 Morrisons Three of the four Argentinian wines winning their way through to Best in Show this year come from Uco, this splendid Malbec among them, underscoring the colossal potential on offer here.
As with its peers, this wine is a dense, opaque purple-black-red in colour with huge saturation on the sides of the glass after a swirl. It’s opulently fruity, too, with billowing damson and sloe pointed up by notes of tea leaf and rose. You might, from the aromas, be expecting a fruit bomb – but this is purer, finer and fresher than that, with ample sinew, sap and ripely leafy inner freshness. Can anywhere in the world compete with red-wine value of this order at present?
Created for Morrisons by one of Argentina’s elite producers, Zuccardi, this is a pure, undiluted Malbec that’s born of 15-year-old vines planted in Uco Valley, to the south of Mendoza city, the vineyards sitting at 945m-1,402m above sea level.
Established in 1963, Zuccardi has always pushed boundaries and constantly been at the forefront of Argentinian viticulture, and it’s this distinction which so caught the eye of the UK supermarket chain.
‘Zuccardi has been pioneering in its approach in the Uco Valley,’ says Morrisons’ wine sourcing manager Charles Cutteridge. ‘We wanted to create a wine that is driven by a sense of place and terroir; a wine that is distinctively Argentinian with an identity which comes from the soils and vineyards the fruit is grown in. This is why we partnered with Zuccardi, which uses oak sparingly and focuses on neutral materials such as concrete to create wines with excellent purity of fruit not masked by lots of oak. We believe that quality comes through in this wine.’
Crafted from entirely handpicked grapes, Morrisons’ award winner was fermented using wild yeasts with a proportion of the wine being aged in French oak barrels.
ARGENTINA
Pacheco Pereda, Estirpe Organic Fairtrade Cabernet Franc, Agrelo, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza 2021 (14%)
The appearance of two Cabernet Franc wines in our Best in Show selection this year underscores the seriousness with which this variety is now being regarded away from its Bordeaux and Loire Valley heartlands. This Value Best in Show version from Agrelo delivers, as you’d expect, extravagant fruit pleasure. It’s dark black-red in colour, with warm, sweetly pippy scents bubbling from the glass. In the mouth, it’s a smooth flood of soft, vibrant raspberry and damson fruits which, despite the gentleness of both its acidity and its tannins, still contrives to give the drinker a sense of texture, amplitude – and satisfaction. A sense of gravity, too, lifts those fruit flavours well clear of simplicity: another Franc hallmark? You decide.
‘Alto Agrelo is a very special place, located in the highest part of Luján de Cuyo at 1,059m,’ explains head winemaker Juan Pablo Murgia.
‘The climate and intensity of the sunlight is perfect for Cabernet Franc, a grape that has become a flagship of Argentina in the last few years due to its structure, firm tannins and deep aromatic complexity.’
Murgia was born, raised and went to university in Mendoza. His grandfather was a viticulturist and winery owner, while it was his father who triggered Murgia’s bond with wine:
‘We used to spend time together in the vineyards, which was where I learned the philosophy of high-quality grapes,’ he remembers.
‘The land here is a combination of clay and large rocks coated with calcium carbonate,’ says Murgia. ‘Our aim is to show the micro-terroir at work and our understanding of the region, its vineyards and soil that we’ve developed since we planted our organic vineyard in 2010.
‘This wine (which was first made in 2019) represents where we belong, the inspiration that is our family winemaking tradition, and our organic philosophy which is to produce pure wines that express the best of the region and the grape variety.’
AUSTRALIA
Orlando, Lyndale Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills, South Australia 2019 (13.3%)
You’ll have no trouble telling our two Antipodean Chardonnay wines in the Best in Show selection apart – which is exactly as it should be, as place-related differences step to the fore in winemakers’ thinking and craft. This wine is more green-silver than gold, and packed with aromatic floral lime, underscored by a swirl of cream from barrel fermentation. It’s vivid and fresh without being skinny, lean or over-taut – clearly a Chardonnay at ease with its cool climate. Yet the layers are there, too, like exposed sedimentary strata, giving the wine a vertical dimension which will carry it effortlessly through a meal.
Established in 1874, Orlando stands tall as one of Australia’s most historic and preeminent wineries, having laid down a multitude of markers throughout that time, including its pioneering work with sparkling wine and Riesling (it first released the groundbreaking Steingarten Riesling in the 1960s).
Having only made its debut in 2018, this Best in Show winner is relatively wet behind the ears, yet is already putting itself forward as a modern classic.
Lyndale Chardonnay is a marriage of two vineyard blocks – Woodside and Piccadilly – in the cool, lofty and undulating Adelaide Hills.
‘Woodside offers generosity, texture and the enticing core of citrus fruit, while Piccadilly adds purity, depth and a linear acid profile that makes the wine a more three-dimensional experience,’ says Orlando.
Winemaker Tim Pelquest-Hunt earned his stripes as a travelling vigneron, pitching up in regions as diverse as southern England, Germany, Napa and New Zealand. He has also worked in Tasmania, Hunter Valley and Barossa, meaning that Orlando’s heritage is far from lost on him.
‘Orlando’s rich winemaking history reshaped the face of the Australian wine industry by helping to define regional classics,’ he says.‘These are special wines from treasured places.’
AUSTRALIA
Tyrrell’s, Vat 1 Semillon, Hunter Valley, New South Wales 2016 (11%)
£38-£47 Fareham Wine Cellar, Fells, Hedonism,
Lay & Wheeler, Noble Green, Soho Wine Supply
POA $ Broadbent Selections
Those who long for freshness, restraint and petite shapeliness in white wine paired
