Top-100 Malbec from the heights of Mendoza
- 92 pts Wine Spectator92 pts WS
- Curated by unrivaled experts
- Choose your delivery date
- Temperature controlled shipping options
- Get credited back if a wine fails to impress
2021 Sophenia Estate Reserva Malbec Gualtallary Uco Valley 750 ml
| $25 | per bottle | |
- Curated by unrivaled experts
- Choose your delivery date
- Temperature controlled shipping options
- Get credited back if a wine fails to impress
Something Happens at 4,000 Feet…
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 2021 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.
2021 was the ideal vintage for an Argentinean standout like Sophenia. It was 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. “The fruit achieved the kind of balance winemakers dreamed of,” Vinous wrote of 2021 in Argentina. This 92-point bottle is an outstanding portrait of that fantastic season—one you can enjoy every weeknight.