Anti-Prime Day: Skip the “BIG” Retailer & Shop Small

Note: We’re bucking the trend of mass-market drivel and putting some of our small-batch wines from the mountains of Argentina on an “Anti Prime Day” sale!

Below are 3 wines from the remote vineyards of the Calchaqui Valley… Made by families who have tended to their land for over 100 years… who don’t have the words “filler” or “bulk” in their vocabulary.

Sunal Ilógico Criolla | 2020 | Calchaqui Valley, Argentina

One of Argentina’s original wine grapes brought to the country by Spanish conquistadors

The grape of Argentina’s high desert villages
Beaujolais of the Andes

Sometime around 1900, someone planted a few vines on a small Indian farmstead at the northern edge of the Calchaquí Valley.

If you’ve had Sunal Ilógico, then you’ve had malbec
from Luracatao before. But this vintage is not a malbec but a criolla, with grapes from a different part of Luracatao known as Cuchi Pampa.

“Criolla” is a blanket term for various hybrids that evolved from Spanish grapes brought to the new world in the 1500s. The most famous criolla is the white wine grape torrontés. But the criolla we have here is a red grape. Nothing to do with torrontés at all. Its precise genetic makeup remains a mystery – a long-lost European varietal (like the carmenere discovered in Chile)?

Indeed, on the palate this criolla feels familiar – a lighter red with a nose of dates, dried roses, and spice; a “Beaujolais of the Andes” if you will.

Purchase Sunal

Atypico Malbec Cabernet | 2018 | Calchaquí Valley, Argentina

The Old Vine Upstart

6,069 ft.
Avg. vine age 50 years
18 months in oak

We had the 2017 in last year’s collection. We didn’t hesitate to ask for the 2018. Notice the age of those malbec vines (the Calchaquí is known for exceptionally old vines). At Tolombón, the grapes get an early harvest (the reflective heat from the stony soil matures the grapes faster than usual). After that, it’s 4 days of cold maceration in stainless steel, and 18 months of aging in new barrels by Vicard of the Cognac region – the last of France’s great artisan tonnelleries (cooperages).

If you notice some subtle differences from the 2017, there’s more than just the vintage year at play. At harvest, the winemakers use only the best plots – you seldom get the same vine twice. With blueberry and black olive on the nose; balsamic, mint, and thyme on the palate; and a balanced mouthfeel with a long finish.

Purchase Atypico

El Viticultor Malbec | 2020 | Calchaqui Valley, Argentina

The Viniculturist’s Malbec

8,040 ft.
Low Intervention
5,520 bottles produced

We’ve waited all year for this wine. Our man in Argentina, Diego, had tried to buy some from winemaker Daniel Guillen (Cafayate’s rising star) for the 2021 collection. Alas, he didn’t have enough to sell us. When he offered us bottles of his limited run El Viticultor (production: just 5520 bottles) this year, we leapt at it.

Daniel is one of those rare winemakers who believes that if you put the effort into the vineyard, the best thing you can do in the winery is get out of the way. The vineyard in question lies in an iron-rich dale south of Tacuil called Pucará. During the growing season, the grapes soak up minerals from the soil. At harvest time, Daniel’s family come to help pick the grapes, letting them macerate for 3 days before bacteria naturally present on the skins kicks off the fermentation process with no need for artificial aids.

By all means taste it now to find wild blackberries, black pepper (from the iron in the soil), tobacco, and leather. Only 5520 bottles made.

Purchase El Viticultor

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Calmel & Joseph Entre Amis - 2019 (3 Bottles)
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