2014 Finca Altamira Malbec
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Tasting notes
(12 h/h produced from vines more than 80 years of age; aged for 13 months in new French oak): Bright ruby. Knockout pure nose combines pungent scents of blackberry liqueur, smoky minerals, mocha and violet. Wonderfully plush, concentrated and seamless but not yet expressing itself. This penetrating Malbec displays subtle sweetness of berry fruit, saline minerality and strong soil character. A bit sweeter than the Finca Mirador but with every bit as much medicinal reserve. This wine too is clearly more accessible than the 2013 version. Very long, spicy, ripe and alive on the aftertaste, with a hint of violet lift. There's a wildness to this very savory wine that should become even more interesting as it ages.
Critic scores
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Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
100% Malbec. 15 months in French oak – same as the other single-vineyard wines. This one at 1,300 m and 90-year-old vines. Volcanic and calcareous. 10 m from the Tunuyan river. 2013 sold out so have to release the 2014 of this wine before Mirador and Bella Vista. Hailed in Nov/Dec 2016 so no wine in 2017 year – canopy and bunches damaged. New packaging with super-heavy bottle weighing 900 g! The new owner insisted, apparently. Much sweeter red fruit on the nose compared with Mirador and Bella Vista, more spice and a note of coffee. More floral and refined on the nose even with plenty of dark fruit and tight, fine-grained, more rocky tannins, more tension and overall elegance. On the finish, dry, fresh and darkly elegant, very compact and still so fresh – terrific balance. Very long with great freshness to the end. Good wine, shame about the ridiculously heavy bottle. (JH)
2014 started as a normal growing season, but in February it started raining, so the character of many wines is fresh, less powerful and more elegant. These characteristics are clearly reflected in the 2014 Malbec Finca Altamira, which in any case is always the most floral and exuberant of the single-vineyard bottlings. What matters here is the origin, the soils and vines, rather than the process, which is kept more or less the same for all of the wines. It has a spectacular acid structure, not as creamy as other years, more vertical. Truly outstanding. 16,000 bottles were produced in 2014.