20/04/2018 – Doña Paula, ‘1100’ 2016

(2018) This is a Malbec-based blend, also with 30% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, from three carefully chosen blocks in the high quality Altamira sub-region of the Uco Valley, at 1,100 metres. Sandy soils have good drainage through gravel, and there is limestone too. The blended wine is aged for around 16 months in French oak barrels, 20% of which are new. There's a huge sense of plushness and depth aromatically, a pool of blue-black plum and blueberry, the delicate touch of Parma violet adding perfume. In the mouth it is silky and dense, medium- to full-bodied, and a great wash of chocolate-touched, fleshy plum fruit fills the mid-palate. Some grippy, quite chewy tannin grabs the finish, a sense of graphite and cedar earthiness and minerality, the balance from its good acid structure extending the finish. Watch the video for more information and food-matching ideas.