2015 Lagarde Primeras Vinas Malbec Gualtallary Mendoza

Rare Gem from a 120 Year-Old Family Estate

Thanks to our Chief Wine Officer, Master of Wine Matt Deller’s relationship with Argentina’s venerable Pescarmona family, we’ve secured a coveted 200-bottle allocation of this rare and prestigious Malbec. Hot off the press from earning 94 points in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate who said “This is simply superb,” this is an extremely limited release from one of the oldest wineries in Mendoza. The 2015 Lagarde Primeras Viñas Malbec is the first bottling from ungrafted vines in Gualtallary, the high-elevation appellation emerging as Argentina’s finest. This voluptuous and youthful dark-fruit powerhouse will only get better when carefully cellared for another five years.

It seems like yesterday when Mendoza began making waves as a serious wine region. Now, the cream of Mendoza’s individual terroirs are rising to the top. The region “producing some of Mendoza’s most compelling wines,” according to James Suckling, is Gualtallary, whose high elevation and poor, stony, and calcium-rich soils are wowing critics with wines of stunning intensity and longevity.

The Pescarmona family has owned the 120-year-old Lagarde estate since 1969, and this is their first release to highlight the Finca Agua Verdes vineyard. Planted with ungrafted vines in 2007, this is Lagarde’s highest-elevation vineyard, and, soaring above 4,500 feet, one of the highest in Mendoza.

The early scores on this stellar wine are glowing — Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate calls it a “simply superb” 94-pointer. Loaded with ripe fruit and bursting with floral notes and spice, it has youthful energy that will work itself out in the cellar for 10-15 years. Lucky for us — and you — Deller, Wine Access’s own Master of Wine, steered this allocation our way. It may be only 200 bottles, but ask the lucky few who land them how they feel a decade from now.

• ABV 13.90%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2030
• % Malbec
• Serving temperature – 62°