Altos Las Hormigas

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Malbec Clasico 2020

Mendoza

Vineyard

Grapes come from vineyards in Luján de Cuyo (70%) and the Uco Valley (30%). The region has a semi-desert climate with hot days and cool nights. We choose fresh soils, with good water drainage and a fine silt-sandy texture. These soils allow a deep development of the roots since their water retention capacity is great for the roots to expand and give the plants a better ability to resist heat waves, which are common during the summer in Mendoza. In this climate, we avoid soils with abundant superficial gravels, which increase the warming effect around the vine and might shorten the ripening season.

Vintage

This was a very dry year, with an average rainfall below the region’s historic records. The weather in the months previous to the harvest marked the hottest minimum temperatures of the last ten years, with very hot days. These conditions produced very concentrated grapes, with amazing potential. February brought cooler days, so we rapidly organized the harvesting schedule to pick up the grapes at their optimum ripening level. By the first days of March, all the grapes were in the winery.

Winemaking

100% Malbec grapes harvested by hand. After a careful, double sorting process, the grapes are softly pressed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in order to express the vineyard they come from. Fermentation takes place in separate stainless steel tanks between 24-28°C for 10 days. Each tank is tasted three times a day to determine what is needed. The wine is then aged for a minimum of 9 months in concrete vats. No oak aging.

Categories: Altos Las Hormigas, Argentina, Wines

Description

Altos Las Hormigas

In 1995 Alberto Antonini, a well-known Tuscan winemaker, and Antonio Morescalchi, a young entrepreneur, took a trip to visit the burgeoning wine areas of South America. It only took one stop to find what they were looking for. They were immediately impressed by the vineyards thriving in the high altitude and dry climate of Mendoza, and were captivated by the whispered traditions and blend of cultures.

They returned to Tuscany powerfully impressed not only by the region, but also by the unexplored potential of Malbec, a grape that had a strong local tradition but was largely ignored and misunderstood. While the rest of the wine world saw Mendoza struggling to shed its bulk wine image, the two young Italians saw Mendoza as a place where traditional viticultural values and unblemished land could be reinvigorated with a modern winemaking approach and international experience. Instead of planting Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as many others were doing during the 1990s, the team decided to invest their confidence in Malbec. Today, Malbec is the varietal for which Argentina is best known.

Against all odds they cemented their vision to become Terroir Specialists Shortly after, two friends and business partners, also enthused by the idea, joined the venture: Attilio Pagli, a renowned Tuscan winemaker with two 100 point-scoring wines in his personal record and Carlos Vazquez, an Argentine Agronomist, who work for 20 years with the early Catena group, planting new varieties, developing previously unknown vineyard sites and contributing greatly to the qualitative change of Argentine viticulture early on.

As in wine, all plans need a long time to bring some reward, but the philosophy of terroir immediately decanted to all other practices at Altos Las Hormigas. We believe that each intervention on the wine means a step away from its origin. No intervention is impossible, but we try to do as little as possible in winemaking. Minimal extraction, neutral oak, natural yeast, and very little sulfites are just a few items to mention, that guide us in what we do. We also seek naturally low alcohol through harvesting as early as possible in each soil type. Our dedication to terroir-driven wines has transformed not only our philosophy but the evolution of the wines.