2014 Casarena Sinco Lujan de Cuyo Mendoza 750 ml

Michel Rolland’s Long Shadow in Mendoza

When we left Santiago for Mendoza in 2012, we knew we’d created a monster. Between 2009 and 2011, we lured many of you to WineAccess with a steady diet of Napa Valley Cabernet bargains. But with the storm clouds clearing as a result of a rebounding economy and four consecutive short-vintage harvests, those 50%-off Tuesdays would soon be a thing of the past. The pressure was on.

That trip to Mendoza led to the discovery of a handful of superb Argentine estates, operated and managed by some of the greatest winemakers in the world. The Catenas, Roberto de la Mota, Michel Rolland, Susana Balbo, Paul Hobbs, and young winemakers like Bernardo Bossi Bonilla were turning out stunning Cabernets and Malbecs that would give Napa Valley all it could handle.

We trekked through dozens of vineyards in the high ground, all irrigated by runoff from the snowcapped Andes. Some were surprising. But none were more bizarre than the Jack-and-the-Beanstalk Cabernet Sauvignon at Casarena.

French enologist Michel Rolland is the most revered consulting enologist the world has ever known, the most famous “flying winemaker” there is. From the moment Robert Parker shined a spotlight on Rolland’s full-throttle 1982 Bordeaux, Rolland has been able to pick his clients — and name his price.

In 2007, while in Mendoza, a friend asked Rolland to take a look at one of Argentina's oldest Cabernet plantings. Cordial as he is brilliant, Rolland — whose hands have been all over 100-pointers from Harlan Estate, Bryant Family, Bond, and Araujo — did as was asked, and made the trek out to the hallowed high ground of Agrelo.

When we first laid eyes on the historic Casarena vineyard, we too did a double-take. Land was dirt-cheap in the 1930s, so the vineyard had been planted to unusually wide spacing, facilitating manual farming practices. The vista was magnificent, the ancient vines in the forefront, the blinding-white, snow-capped Andes looming behind. But far more astonishing than the view or the thick trunks of these gnarly plants was the height of the vines.

Michel Rolland stands 5’8” tall. The 80-year-old Casarena Cabernet Sauvignon towered over him, eight feet off the ground. The last thing Rolland needed was another client, but after walking the vineyard, he was won over. He signed up on the spot.

Eight years later, critical acclaim has followed Rolland to Casarena. Decanter Magazine’s prestigious tasting panel of Masters of Wine awarded this Mendoza estate Gold Medal and Best of Show honors, and raves from Stephen Tanzer and Wine Spectator followed. Here’s why.

Winemaker Bernardo Bossi’s 2014 Casarena Sinco from Mendoza’s Luján de Cuyo is a bold and complex blend with potent intensity. It vividly expresses the sweet spices and ripe dark fruits from old-vine Malbec and 80-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon picked at a “calculated” point of ripeness. Inspired by Rolland’s masterful attention to detail, Bossi has perfectly layered his own techniques on top of his mentor’s, marrying plush Napa-like concentration with youthful verve and honing his barrel selections to back it all up with a firm structure and silky, fine-grained tannins.

Stephen Tanzer remains the most eloquent critic in the world. He’s also the stingiest, especially with his Argentine ratings. Tanzer practically gushed over the 2014 Sinco, calling it “sweet, suave and fine-grained, offering a seamless integration of the two varieties,” and conferring the equivalent of a papal blessing in suggesting that an under-$15 wine is “an outstanding value.”

No wonder Wine & Spirits considers this a “Best Buy” — $15.99 for a short while today. That’s the good news. The bad? Just 900 bottles are up for grabs.