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More wines available from Alma 4
750ml
Bottle:
$21.60
The 2019 Alma 4 Chardonnay from San Pablo, Uco Valley was aged for 30 months and is a greenish yellow in the glass....
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Winery
Alma 4
Vintage: 2012
2012 has, so far been a positive year for wineries around the world. While it may be a little too early to speak of the wines being made in the northern hemisphere, European and North American wineries have already begun reporting that their harvesting season has been generally very good, and are predicting to continue with the kind of successes they saw in 2011. However, 2012 has been something of a late year for France, due to unpredictable weather throughout the summer, and the grapes were ripening considerably later than they did in 2011 (which was, admittedly, an exceptionally early year). French wineries are claiming, though, that this could well turn out to be advantageous, as the slow ripening will allow the resulting wines to express more flavour and features of the terroir they are grown in.
The southern hemisphere has seen ideal climatic conditions in most of the key wine producing countries, and Australia and New Zealand particularly had a superb year, in particular with the Bordeaux varietal grapes that grow there and which love the humidity these countries received plenty of. Also enjoying a fantastic year for weather were wineries across Argentina and Chile, with the Mendoza region claiming that 2012 will be one of their best vintages of the past decade. Similar claims are being made across the Chilean wine regions, where Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon had an especially good year. These two grape varietals also produced characterful wines on the coastal regions of South Africa this year.
Varietal: Champagne Blend
There are few areas in the world with a reputation quite as famous and respected as that of Champagne in France, and almost every wine region on earth has imitated or has been influenced by the careful process mastered by the wineries of Champagne. However, it is in the grape varietals which thrive in this region where the secrets to the Champagne's success can be found – the acidic, flavorful Chardonnay grapes meeting the characterful Pinot Noir varietal, and coming together to produce something wonderful in the bottle. There are actually seven varietals allowed by French wine law for the production of Champagne wines, all of which are used by wineries to accentuate each others finest points and maintain the reputation of this very special region, the home to some extremely high quality grapes.
Region: Cuyo
Situated in and around the Andean mountains, the Cuyo region of Argentina has long been associated with the best of the country's wine industry. Including now world famous provinces such as Mendoza and La Rioja, Argentina's Cuyo region has something of an ideal environment for the cultivation of high quality grapes – including Argentina's flagship varietal, the Malbec – which includes the beautiful Desaguadero River and its tributaries. Although the region itself is quite dry and arid, the soils have a remarkably high mineral content, and plenty of iron which gives it the distinctive red color associated with Cuyo. For several decades now, wineries in Cuyo have been booming, as more and more of the global wine audience begin to recognize the region's remarkable potential for rich and flavorful wines.
Country: Argentina
In the dry, arid deserts of Argentina, wineries and winemakers are focusing their efforts on producing high quality wines for the world market. By experimenting with both traditional and modern methods and technologies, they have found great success with a wide variety of grapes well suited to the conditions of the country, particularly Malbec, Bonarda and Cabernet Sauvignon. Over the past decade, Argentinian wineries have continued to aim high, and this has led to a range of new wines using grape varietals not typically associated with the country. The cooler regions of Argentina are seeing more vineyards being planted with Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir varietals, something that is beginning to produce fantastic results, which are at once representative of the country's wines - with all their fruity and bold character - but are also pushing the boundaries of what we expect from a New World country.