2020 Tilia Bonarda Mendoza Argentina 750 ml

We get excited when people tell us they love Mendoza Malbec, because that means we get to introduce them to one of our favorite hidden gems from the region: Bonarda. And to Tilia’s 2020 bottling, which shows just how fresh, pure, and downright delicious the variety can be.

Drawn from 50- to 70-year-old vines in two eastern Mendoza vineyards, Tilia’s Bonarda is a classic rendition of the signature grape: medium-bodied on the palate, with red- and black-fruit aromatics that give way to delightful notes of spice and herbs. After a glass, you’ll know exactly why Wine Advocate said of Tilia’s wines, “cannot recommend them highly enough.”

Even though it’s locally prized for its silkiness and juicy acidity, 100% expressions of Bonarda—the country’s second most planted grape—seldom appear in the US, since it’s often blended with Malbec. But that under-the-radar status means you can still get top-quality bottles for an excellent value. 

Like Tilia’s Bonarda, which has earned “Best Buy” honors from Wine Enthusiast every single year they’ve tasted it, and has inspired Wine Advocate to say, “of all the ranges... tasted in Argentina, none could match the quality to price ratio of Tilia.”

Tilia crafted this wine in part from the El Mirador vineyard, a site whose alluvial loam soils have also been tapped by Alejandro Vigil—winemaker at the legendary Catena Zapata—for his acclaimed El Enemigo single-vineyard Bonarda. With ample sunlight and high elevation, it produces a wine with perfectly balanced brightness and concentration. 

Known as Douce Noir in France and Charbono in California, Argentine Bonarda is a complicated and enigmatic variety that pairs as well with cedar-planked salmon as it does with asado. And Tilia’s Bonarda embodies what makes Mendoza such a heralded winemaking region—tons of ripe fruit notes and bright acidity developed by a unique terroir noted for its extreme elevation and lack of oceanic influence. 

On the other side of the Andes from the Pacific, Mendoza is a true desert, with staggering vineyard elevations of up to 6,000 feet. All that altitude exposes the grapes to intense sunlight, resulting in thick skins and highly concentrated sugars. 

These conditions yield intense ripe fruit notes in the glass, while six months in French and American oak help to round out the palate with anise and polish, pleasantly tempering and deepening the powerful fruit notes that characterize classic Bonarda.

Tilia’s founders Guillermina Van Houten and Gonzalo Llensa are part of a modern winemaking wave that prizes ecological sustainability, and they’ve made Tilia the first winery to carry the Bodegas de Argentina Certified Sustainable seal on its label. They bring a forward-thinking sensibility to this Bonarda, though their vision is tested and clear, crafting a wine that portrays Mendoza in its purest form.