2021 Sophenia Altosur 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 2021 Sophenia Altosur 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.” This wine landed on the list of the Decanter World Wine Awards’ top 50 wines of 2022, earning Best in Show honors and a tremendous 97-point score from the DWWA judges.

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.  

2021 was an ideal 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. “The fruit achieved the kind of balance winemakers dreamed of,” wrote one critic of 2021 in Argentina.

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.

His touch on this 2021 beauty is clear: Grown at heights where eagles dare, no overripeness or exaggerated oak clouds this Malbec’s brawn and purity.