Ayni Malbec Paraje Altamira is made from 100 percent Malbec.
Ayni is the Quechua term for the principle of reciprocity, practiced for centuries by the Andean people - "in order to receive, you first have to give." Chakana's renowned Paraje Altamira vineyard, which sits 3,300 feet above sea level, bears the name Ayni & is the source of the Ayni wines.
Deep ruby-red in color with violet hints. Complex and intense bouquet, featuring blackberries, cherries and plums, with delicate floral notes and spices. Balanced and fresh; full-bodied with good length of spices.
Pairs well with grilled meats and stews.
Review:
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
Color: Deep ruby red with violet hints
Nose: Complex and intense, features black berries, cherries and plum, with delicate floral notes and spices.
Mouth: Balanced and fresh, full bodied with good length of spices.
Review:
"A cellar selection coming from a vineyard that sits 3,200 feet above sea level, the 2020 Malbec Ayni Paraje Altamira sports a deep purple hue as well as gorgeous aromatics of ripe black and blue fruits, savory herbs, graphite, and hints of tobacco. It's ripe, powerful, full-bodied, and opulent, with a silky, seamless mouthfeel and beautiful overall length. This fruit-loaded, sexy, powerful effort will drink well for at least 7-8 years."
- Jeb Dunnuck (Importer Highlight: Fran Kysela ; July 2024), 95 pts
Ayni is the quechua name of a principle of reciporcity practised for centuries by the andean cultures, it means in order to receive something you first have to give. Ayni is also the name of our most special vineyard, located in Paraje Altamira one of the best appelations within Uco Valley in Mendoza.
Argentina has a history of sparkling wine production since the early 1960’s.
Tasting Notes: Aged for 18 months on its lees before disgorgement. It’s a creamy with a nice toast aroma. It is made in a well-balanced style, with fine bubbles and a dry, palate-cleansing finish.
Vineyards: 100% Altamira in the Uco Valley subregion
Soil type: Sandy loam over calcium carbonate coated gravels, 30 to 50 cm deep
Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
Average age of the vines: 10 years
Winemaking: Methode Traditionnelle (Champenoise). Aged sur lattes for 18 months. Made following the tratidional method, fermentation goes until it gets totallay dry. No liquor is added to keep the freshnes, elegance and purity of is clean profile.
A versatile wine, good on its own or paired with any food.
"An impressive first release for this all-Pinot Noir bubbly from Paraje Altamira, aged for 18 months on its lees before disgorgement. It’s a creamy, bready, well-balanced style, with fine bubbles and a dry, palate-cleansing finish. A fizz to watch. 2017-22"
- Tim Atkin (Argentina Special Report 2017), 92 pts
"Perhaps with the same sort of structural power that Altamira reds possess, this sparkling rosé shows something immutable in body, lively texture, bracing acidity. The wine spent 18 months on the lees and this, no doubt, provides flavor complexities well beyond the fruit, but still the fruit predominates with intense aromas, substantial, and crisp, lively acidity. If what you’re looking for is a sparkler for carpaccio or roast beef, this is it."
- Descorchads 2018, 94 pts
Avatar Malbec is 100% Malbec.
Aged in 100% French Oak barrels for 4 months and then 6 months in the bottle beofre release
Presents a vibrant red color with glints of bordeaux. Great aromatic intensity. It expresses in a very fresh way, with red fruits and a remarkable sweetness. In the mouth it’s balanced with round and sweet tannins, rich and with a marked acidity.
Coming from Agrelo district.
Average of the vines is 25 years old.
Soil type: Alluvial and sandy soils with a big amount of rocks just besides the Mendoza river. This is one of the most prestigious terroirs in Argentina.
Winemaking: Crushing, destemming and maceration pre-fermentative at 11ºC for 24 hours. Alcoholic fermentation in tanks. 4 weeks of skin contact maceration. Aged in French oak barrels for 4 months, Malolactic fermentation in contact with fine lees.
Wine was slightly filtered before bottling.
Avatar Malbec is 100% Malbec.
Aged in 100% French Oak barrels for 4 months and then 6 months in the bottle beofre release
Presents a vibrant red color with glints of bordeaux. Great aromatic intensity. It expresses in a very fresh way, with red fruits and a remarkable sweetness. In the mouth it’s balanced with round and sweet tannins, rich and with a marked acidity.
Coming from Agrelo district.
Average of the vines is 25 years old.
Soil type: Alluvial and sandy soils with a big amount of rocks just besides the Mendoza river. This is one of the most prestigious terroirs in Argentina.
Winemaking: Crushing, destemming and maceration pre-fermentative at 11ºC for 24 hours. Alcoholic fermentation in tanks. 4 weeks of skin contact maceration. Aged in French oak barrels for 4 months, Malolactic fermentation in contact with fine lees.
Wine was slightly filtered before bottling.
Bressia Monteagrelo Malbec is made from 100 percent Malbec.
Aged in French oak barrels for 12 months. No filtration and no fining.
Bressia Monteagrelo combines the soul of each varietal, its intimate relationship with the origin and its deep roots with a unique terroir in the world...Monteagrelo is our family of wines and, as in any family, each one expresses their own identity and varietal personality that makes them unforgettable and unrepeatable." - Walter Bressia
Monteagrelo Malbec is sourced from vineyards in Tupungato, La Consulta & Agrelo. Planted 6,500 plants per hectare.
Attractive and intense red-colored wine with purple tones. It exhibits ripe red and black fruit aromas, mixed with vanilla, chocolate and coffee nuances. Good concentration, great structure, delicate tannins and a long, harmonious finish.
Review:
"The 2019 Malbec Monteagrelo is a blend of grapes from the Uco Valley and Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza and was aged for 10 months in French vats. Garnet red in the glass, the nose offers notes of ripe plum and oak with hints of biscuit and pepper. Slick and broad, the voluminous flow brings gentle tannins and freshness. It’s creamy at the back of the mouth with hints of fruit. - Joaquín Hidalgo"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (November 2021), 91 pts
Color: Deep ruby red with violet hints
Nose: Complex and intense, features black berries, cherries and plum, with delicate floral notes and spices.
Mouth: Balanced and fresh, full bodied with good length of spices
Reviews:
"Ayni is the top Malbec at Chakana and more than delivers on that status in 2013. It's still a young wine, with lots of gas in the tank, as it were, but this is a classic Uco style with freshness underpinning savoury black fruits, plenty of colour and understated oak. Drink: 2016-22" - Tim Atkin (Argentina Special Report 2015), 94 pts
"Suave, rich and well-spiced, offering loads of dark plum, currant and dried blackberry flavors. Molten chocolate notes emerge mid-palate, with Asian spice accents. Presents a long and ripe finish, accented by loamy details. Drink now through 2020. - KM""
- Wine Spectator (Insider, October 29th 2014), 92 pts
The Ayni Estate
Ayni is produced in a state-of-the-art winery, Chakana, built with the purpose of achieving outstanding quality.
Chakana winery was founded by Juan Pelizzatti on May 2nd, 2002. Juan was driven to enter the wine industry first and foremost by his passion for wine, and also by the desire to invest his time and money on a product of agriculture. Although Juan did not know it at the time, the company was founded on the same day the Chakana was celebrated on the Andes highlands: on that same day, the Southern Cross (the Chakana for the Inca people) becomes vertical in the night Andean sky.
Juan's mission is to create an integral experience to introduce world consumers to the taste and culture of the Andes. His vision is to become one of the top 20 exporters of wine from Argentina, by consistently offering outstanding value for money.
Wine is currently produced in four different levels at Chakana, by winemaker Gabriel Bloise:
Entry Level: Maipe
Reserve Level: Maipe Reserve, Cueva de las Manos, Nuna
Estate Selection
Ayni
The winemaking process is focused on treating the grapes with great care and with strict control of every step of the production.
Wines are designed under the responsibility of the renowned international wine consultant Alberto Antonini.
The winery is located on a 150 ha. estate, 34 km South of the city of Mendoza, in Agrelo, Lujan de Cuyo.
The grapes grown are 35 year-old Malbec, Bonarda and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Deep and textured soils facilitate plant development and confer great body and structure to the wines.
The year-long sunny and dry conditions allow almost organic viticulture practices. The outstanding feature includes a great daily thermal amplitude, with mild days and cold nights, permitting a particular richness of polifenols that improves the wines flavors and color.
A drip irrigation system has been set up to achieve a precise control of the vegetative cycle and a rational use of water. Waters are processed and used in the vineyards.
The Ayni Vineyards
Chakana sources grapes from their own four estates:
Agrelo
Acreage: 150 ha, 120 ha with vineyards
70 ha entry level
40 ha reserve level
10 ha estate & ayni
Acreage by varietal at Agrelo Estate:
Malbec: 50 ha
Cabernet Sauvignon: 30 ha
Syrah: 10 ha
Bonarda: 10 ha
Tannat: 2,5 ha
Petit Verdot: 2.5 ha
Cabernet Franc: 1.5 ha
Aspirant Bouchet: 2.5 ha
Ancellotta: 2 ha
Sauvignon Blanc: 4 ha
Viognier: 2.5 ha
Chardonnay: 2.5 ha
Wine Profile: Medium bodied, elegant, fresher fruit. Round tannin on gravels.
Terroir: Very heterogeneous – deep clay to sandy clay gravels; cool climate
Altamira I
Acreage: 15 ha, Malbec high density. Planted in 2010, not in production
Wine Profile: Full bodied, impressive tannic structure and roundness, spicy and complex.
Terroir: Sandy clay gravel, limestone; cooler climate
Altamira II
Acreage: 36 ha, 26 ha with vineyards
20 ha malbec, estate and ayni level
4 ha chardonnay, entry level and reserve
2 ha pinot noir (used for sparkling wine)
Wine Profile: Medium bodied, elegant, fresher fruit. Round tannin on gravels.
Terroir: Very heterogeneous – deep clay to sandy clay gravels; cool climate
Terrada
Acreage: 21 ha, all in vines
100% malbec, old vines, high density
Reserve – Estate Selection
Wine Profile: Complex, ripe fruit, medium bodied, elegant.
Terroir: Sandy clay gravels, 70cm. soil depth, Some limestone; warmer climate.
They also source wines from contract suppliers in Ugarteche and Medrano, for entry level wines, and in Vista Flores, for Estate Selection & Ayni levels.
Arzuaga Ribera del Duero Crianza 95% Tempranillo and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dark cherry color with purple highlights. Powerful nose and high aromatic diversity of ripe red and black fruits, spicy and balsamic notes, and a roasted finish. Soft and mellow in the mouth with a great fruitiness and length.