2015 Antucura Malbec Vista Flores Mendoza

A Slice of Pomerol on Vista Flores

“6,944.” That was the email response from the production team after we requested some numbers on Antucura buyers since 2007. Now we’ve witnessed owner Anne-Caroline Biancheri, under the careful eyes of her super-enologist neighbor Michel Rolland, dazzle WineAccess members for nearly 10 years with an array of high-elevation wines from carefully selected sites around Mendoza. But even we stared at the four-digit number with astonishment. So we asked Harry the quant guy to double-check his work; he wasn’t amused. His reply, again: “6,944.”

While Biancheri continues to give much of the credit to Rolland for the massive following on WineAccess, she encouraged him toward a more refined, Right Bank interpretation of the high-elevation vines of Vista Flores. At $13.99/bottle for top-shelf Malbec, it’s no mystery why Antucura developed a cult following on WineAccess.

A couple decades ago, after completely altering the makeup of the top wines of Bordeaux’s Right Bank, uber-consultant Michel Rolland was lured to Napa Valley.  Rolland advised the leading vineyard managers from Haut-Médoc to Harlin.  Each producer credits Rolland’s rigor in the vines and the blending table for a good part of their success. When Rolland launched his flagship winery, Clos de los Siete in Vista Flores, the Flying Winemaker asserted the same diligence and expertise around the foothills of Mendoza.

Before the deluge of European winemakers descended upon Argentina, Rolland had already staked his claim in Mendoza.  Then a friend introduced Michel to Anne-Caroline Biancheri.  Rolland would soon shape and reform the vines and cellar protocol at Antucura, crafting a series of Cabernets and Malbecs that drew raves from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar. Biancheri admired Clos de los Siete and wanted to make a cuvée more resembling Michel’s style in Pomerol. Vista Flores was the perfect spot.

Antucura’s vineyards in the Vista Flores region of the Uco Valley of Mendoza are planted on a narrow swath of land perched 3,500 feet above sea level. The lowest plots are sandy, but as you climb, the sand is mixed with clay. At the very top of the slope, the soils are gravelly, not unlike Bordeaux’s Graves.

The 2015 growing season was a classic in Mendoza, the second consecutive cool vintage. Are these now the “Cool Years,” as Steve Tanzer called them in a 2,000-word piece in the March 2016 issue of Vinous? We’ll see. But the quality coming out of the Uco Valley prompted Tanzer, the top authority on all things Argentina, to rave about the “greater number of outstanding bottlings than ever before.”

The spring of 2015 was generally wet, and vineyards on the valley floor had a big problem with rot. Luckily, Antucura’s high-altitude Vista Flores vineyards were able to quickly bounce back from the rain. Cool spring temperatures allowed for even fruit set and healthy canopies. Summer growing conditions were ideal, with zero heat spikes, giving fruit enough time for even ripening and solid, natural acid retention.  The best reds have pristine fruit with soft ripe tannins, including Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 2015 Vista Flores Malbec is brilliant ruby-red with violet reflections.  Aromas of ripe red fruit and burnt lavender. The palate entry is full, soft, and lush, with sweet tannins and notes of sour cherries and blueberries.  While the Antucura wines from Luján de Cuyo tend towards lavish renditions with deep plum fruit, the refined and bright-fruited Vista Flores is more reminiscent of Rolland’s handiwork in Pomerol.  

We now know the exact size of the fan base that the partnership of Rolland and Biancheri in the foothills of the Andes has garnered here on WineAccess: 6,944. (Thanks, Harry!) You might not want to wait too long to hit the “Buy” button.Just 120 cases — at only $13.99/bottle! — of Antucura’s Pomerol-inspired single-vineyard Malbec from Vista Flores are up for grabs.

• ABV 14.30%
• Enjoy right away
• % Malbec