2016 Pascual Toso Reserva Malbec Argentina 750 ml

Massive crowd-pleasing appeal with blue-chip pedigree: That’s the key to Pascual Toso’s success, and the reason why the Argentinian producer has become a member favorite at Wine Access in a matter of months. With Opus One veteran and 100-point winemaker Paul Hobbs acting as consultant here, there’s no question about the incredible craft behind the 2016 Reserva Malbec—the kind that would typically thin out your wallet.

Intoxicating aromas of plum, violets, tobacco, and holiday spice draw you into the glass, where a fine mineral backbone emerges. Rich blackberry and boysenberry fruit wrapped in honed tannins give this release the seductive, rounded polish of a Right Bank Bordeaux. No wonder Pascual Toso has so often ended up on James Suckling’s Top 100 Andes lists.

Our first clue that something special was happening in vineyards below the snow-capped peaks of Mendoza were the calicatas, or test pits, dug up between the rows. At the bottom of one excavation, you might find exposed granite; just a few yards away, a hole bottoms out in dense clay. These local pits, we were told, marked a renaissance in the region’s winemaking, signaling a desire to uncover, understand, and capture the nuances of terroir even among value-priced producers.

Enologists are now taking advantage of the extreme geological diversity and complexity that lies beneath the topsoil, leading to incredibly sophisticated expressions of Malbec. This new generation of site-transparent Malbecs distills everything we love about South American wine—and can still be had for a song.

Many of the best expressions hail from Las Barrancas in Maipú, where Pascual Toso’s best vineyards are located. What’s unique here is a slightly lower altitude in Mendoza, making for a softer-structured, plush wine that pairs like a dream with grilled lamb and beef. Warm temperatures and hot sunlight virtually guarantee perfect levels of ripeness for the grape, while westerly winds, along with steeply dropping temperatures at night,  keep things fresh and cool.

The Malbec Reserva is made entirely from estate-grown fruit in Las Barrancas, and sees a premium treatment in the cellar, aged for a year in new oak, 20% French and 80% American. Layered on top of the ripe, bold fruit, all the spice and rich oak give this wine an almost unfair edge on the competition, a gumbo of black fruit, wood, and spice that is so easy to drink and a luscious dinner pairing.

At the vanguard of the new Argentinian winemaking elite, Pascual Toso is as fortuitous a discovery as value hunters can make. As the popularity of these wines increase, so too will the prices.