2017 Altos Las Hormigas Malbec Appellation Paraje Altamira

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 90 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Duncan's profile
  • Report Issue

  5/21/2023 - Duncan wrote: 89 Points

  18 months on and my notes are pretty similar to 18 months ago. If anything I find it more tightly wound and certainly more tannic than last time. The label mentions it can be aged for 25 years, so maybe 5 is just far too young. Hmm!

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View bravo.solares's profile
  • Report Issue

  12/8/2021 - bravo.solares Likes this wine: 90 Points

  I drink little to no Malbec. And the same goes for Argentinian wine. But I am glad I bought some of this. Perhaps one of the New World wines with most minerality (a gallicisim, as the world does not even exist in English) I’ve had in my life. Reticent fruit (just a hint of blue fruits), crushed rocks, fine but assertive tannins. Plenty of herbal notes, a touch of greenness too - those pyrazines make me think this wine may age well and develop some interesting tertiaries. I have just one more bottle as of now - maybe I will revisit in 6-7 more yrs? Anyone who knows how these wines age, please do chime in.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Duncan's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/28/2021 - Duncan wrote: 91 Points

  Deep purple, opaque but bright. The nose is hard to pin down: it shifts from cassis to menthol to brambles, seeming to change with each inhalation. Intriguing. On the palate there's rich but not jammy fruit: berries, maybe some plum compote. There's a distinct minerality too, maybe even a vein of salinity - though that is always subservient to the fruit. A reasonable quantity of fine-grained tannins on the mid-palate underpin a very long finish, with mouth-watering acidity making itself felt eventually. All in all, a supremely classy, well-made wine: certainly deserving 90+.
  
  I see some respected critics marking it in the mid or even high 90s. I suspect they are prompted to do so when tasting this alongside other wines in this excellent winery's Terroir series. In that context, the virtues of this particular Terroir will shine out in contrast to other expressions. Drunk by itself it's strikes me as sophisticated, capable of long ageing, and definitely worth reflection and thought. But in terms of drinking pleasure, and food-accompanying suitability (with roast lamb tonight) it seems to me very good, rather than great. Priced ambitiously in the UK at around £45 it also has a VFM slope as steep as the Andes to climb. Cork, 13.5%.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Ben Christiansen's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/11/2019 - Ben Christiansen wrote:

  Even after two days open it was pretty darn tasty.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.