Altos Los Hormigas, "Terroir" Luján de Cujo Malbec

This wine hails from the Luján de Cujo district, one of several wines included in the estate’s “Terroir Project,” which is designed to highlight the characteristics of these diverse subzones of Mendoza. Along with the sand and gravel typical of most Mendoza vineyards, the source sites for this wine are also said to contain some limestone, lending some bright acidity to the wine. Talk about Italian influence: This innovative winery estate was founded in 1995 by winemaker Alberto Antonini (Antinori) and entrepreneur Antonio Morescalchi. They put all their resources into the Malbec grape at a time when Cabernet Sauvignon/Bordeaux blends were all the rage, and in recent years, they stopped using new oak barrels entirely, to showcase more clearly the varietal characteristics of the Malbec variety. Hand-harvested fruit is gravity-fed into small concrete tanks for fermentation on indigenous yeasts for 15 days. The wine is then aged in both concrete vats (75%) and untoasted oak foudres (25%) f