We’re wrapping up our last Australia/New Zealand shipments, so we’ll keep it short this week.
First, some big news from Argentina... a shipping container of the Bonner family wine, Tacana 2018, along with Tacana reserva (never before on offer to Bonner Wines members), and Mayuco 2019 (also from winemaker Davalos) is under sail. Our team sent us some pictures of the container getting loaded up:
Loaded...
And sealed!
We last got to taste the Tacana reserva about a year ago at Gualfin. We enjoyed several bottles over a parrilla of Argentine beef and juicy, fatty ribs with the locals and ranch hands. We can’t wait to have it state-side.
For those of you who haven’t had the Mayuco yet, the grapes come from Valle Arriba (approx. 8,000 ft), the far edge of our neighbor Raúl Davalos’ most remote vineyard. There, a river called Mayuco (from the old Indian name for water) supplies just enough moisture to produce thick, dark malbec grapes.
The Davalos bodega
Raúl’s family has been making wines from this water and this land for 200 years to create a pure expression of the Calchaquí itself – the power and intensity of its vast deserts and high plains and the delicate beauty of its green valleys. Even the yeast is local. And Raúl has not allowed the expression to be dampened with oak.
Although not available in the US, word of Mayuco has not stayed in the Calchaqui, with Robert Parker giving the 2017 vintage 90 points. Will this newest vintage live up to Mayuco’s reputation? We’ll find out soon!
Finally, are you buying wine labeled “estate-bottled”? It may matter more than you think. This week, resident expert Julien Miquel shares the secret history of the wine industry… including the reason a lot of older French vintages aren’t actually from where they say they are... the 1855 event that changed how estates sell their wine… why the “where” in bottling wine matters... and much more..