2020 Sophenia Estate Reserva Malbec Gualtallary Uco Valley 750 ml

When it comes to Mendoza Malbec, there’s one number that can matter as much or even more than price, points, or production: altitude.

Simply put, there is a world of difference between wines grown at high elevations in Mendoza and those that hail from lower, flatter regions. Once you get above 3,000 feet, grapes’ behavior changes, and they take on greater vividness, freshness, and acidity but also require more conscientious farming.

The 2020 Sophenia Reserve Malbec is grown on estate vineyards at the highest point in the Uco Valley—a region Decanter says is “arguably producing Argentina’s finest Malbecs.” 

Crafted with the help of Matias Michelini—one of Argentina’s greatest, most daring winemakers—this is a masterclass in the power and tension that high-altitude Malbec can achieve. Michelini played an important part in carving out a stylistic niche for Sophenia’s Malbec. Nicknamed “Green Michelini” for his embrace of biodynamic farming and ability to achieve electric tension with acidity, he’s known as a rebel in Argentinean winemaking circles.

2020 was a fantastic vintage in Argentina: a season that did not so much impose a character on the wines as allow farming and terroir to show themselves with mirror-like transparency, each part landing in perfect proportionality.