Terrazas de los Andes Cheval des Andes 2016 750ml

Super refined and beautiful with flowers, spices, dried fruit and hints of stones. Medium to full body with very fine tannins and a gorgeous finish. Shows great finesse and depth. Savory character, as always, but in check. Drink in 2022.

I also tasted the 2015 and 2016 next to the newly released 2017 to give it some context and to see the evolution and changes implemented in the last few years. The 2016 Cheval des Andes is probably the freshest wine produced to date and the first vintage when they used 100% own grapes. Of the trio of vintages tasted together—2015, 2016 and 2017—this is the one with less alcohol and more freshness, and it remains a more austere expression, reflecting a cooler and wetter year that resulted in a less exuberant wine, a benchmark for freshness. I'm looking forward to 2018 to see where they go in the next cool vintage after this 2016... They produced 60,000 bottles and 2,400 magnums. It was bottled in December 2017.

Bright, dark red-ruby. Wild, musky scents and flavors of black raspberry, black pepper, olive tapenade, licorice and rocky salinity. Plush, savory and seamless; a mouthcoating Malbec-based blend with superb depth and palate presence. As concentrated as this wine is, it's medium-bodied in the style of this cooler year but also remarkably nuanced and harmonious from the start, communicating an impression of restrained sweetness. Finishes extremely long and edge-free, with noble tannins and palate-saturating breadth. Incidentally, with this 2016, Cheval des Andes is now made entirely with estate fruit, from their properties in La Compuertas and Altamira. (aged in 70% new oak)

A cooler vintage which shows delicious freshness in the wine with tension on the palate and crunchy red and black berry fruit profile. Showing very nicely at the moment with silky tannins and hints of exotic spice, but this wine has potential to age for another decade at least.

COLOUR: Deep, almost black core with bright violet highlights. AROMAS: This wine opens with notes of fresh berries combined with blackcurrant and redcurrant, rose and violet, completed by hints of Asian spice such as fresh ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. PALATE: A sensual mouthfeel with great structure supported by soft and elegant tannins and subtle freshness. The increased proportion of Malbec in the blend ensures a great balance between the Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure and Malbec’s freshness.