El Ganador Malbec 2017

El Ganador Malbec is made from 100% Malbec, hand-harvested vineyards.
10% aged for 6 months in new French oak; then 6 months in the bottle.
The wine boasts is a rich ruby-purple color, and displays elegant flavors of black berries, ripe plum and robust spices with good balance and structure.

Deep ruby-red in color with violet hints. Complex and intense bouquet, features blackberries, cherries and plums, with delicate floral notes and spices. Balanced and fresh mouth, full-bodied with good length of spices.

The grapes come from the fantastic area of Paraje Altamira in the Uco Valley, Mendoza.
Irrigation: Drip 
Harvest: Manual 
Maceration: 4 days cold soaking below 10°C in stainless steel tanks 
Alcoholic fermentation: 80% of the wine in stainless steel tanks for 15 days with wild yeasts, 20% of the wine in 225-liter closed French oak barrels 
Malolactic fermentation: Yes

Pairs well with grilled meats and stews.

Review:

The single-vineyard 2017 Ayni Malbec comes from paraje Altamira, and the wine was bottled with 13% alcohol and moderate acidity that made it feel soft but not bland, with enough freshness going through its core. Many wines are now matured in large oak containers, and that certainly helps with the integration of the oak with the fruit, as is the case here. The tannins are fine-grained, and the finish is dry and long. 10,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in September 2018. - Luis Gutiérrez"

- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #245, October 2019), 91 pts

Ayni Vino de Parcella Gravas is 100% Malbec

Ayni Gravas was created show the diversity of wine profiles that can be derived from Paraje Altamira’s terroir. The goal with this particular wine is to show a markedly calcareous profile that derives in a more intense black fruit flavor profile and a chalky tannin structure with great age potential, as opposed to the more feminine and elegant style which is typical from Paraje Altamira wines.

Chakana plans to further develop this wine, increasing its accents through vineyard selection and oak aging. Over time, production can potentially increase to 10,000 bottles (maximum).

Ayni Gravas is produced from smaller plots of a 20 hectare vineyard in Paraje Altamira, Valle de Uco, Mendoza. Paraje Altamira is a Geographical Indication (IG) located on the alluvial cone of the Tunuyan River. The Ayni vineyard has been planted on virgin soils on the upper (south western) side of the cone. The vineyard is crossed by numerous smaller river beds that once formed the river delta, and these create a pattern of different soil depths and gravel formations, imparting very different characteristics on the wine. Ayni Gravas is produced only with the sections of the vineyard where the calcium carbonated gravels come to the surface and the vines grow amongst them with no soil. Only a smaller percentage of the vineyard (approximately 20%) features these conditions.

Pairs well with grilled meats and stews.

Review:

"Dark medium ruby. Enticing violet lift to the aromas of boysenberry, blackberry and licorice; wild but not excessively so. Juicy and fine-grained, with penetrating chalky minerality enlivening the flavors of crushed blackberry, flowers and spices. In a very savory, almost salty style, finishing dry and firm, with fresh, fine-grained tannins and lovely energy and length. (just 12.5% alcohol; from the same vineyard as the Ayni Vineyard Paraje Altamira but from a selection of soils) - Stephen Tanzer"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (June 2019), 91 pts

"There is a new 2017 Ayni Parcela Gravas, a selection of Malbec from their Ayni vineyard in Paraje Altamira from very shallow plots with a high content of limestone. The nature of the soils might have resulted in some stress in a warm and dry year like 2017, and the wine felt a bit ripe and with harsher tannins than the regular Ayni. For the rest, the production and élevage remained more or less the same. I look forward to seeing the results in a cooler year. For now, the tannins need a little bit of time in bottle. 3,000 bottles were filled in March 2019. - Luis Gutiérrez"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #245, October 2019), 91 pts

Clos le Vigneau Vouvray is made from 100% Chenin Blanc

The wine is off dry in style with honey, earth and apricot notes. Wines from the town of Vouvray have been known to age well for 40 years. This particular bottling should hold for at least 5-7 years. This Loire Valley white wine from France is perfect on a warm spring day.

Review:

"The 2017 Vouvray Clos Le Vigneau comes all from a single lieu-dit (Clos Le Vigneau) and is 100% Chenin Blanc brought up all in tank. This medium-bodied, rounded, off-dry white offers up beautiful notes of peach, honeyed apple, and citrus-like aromas and flavors. I love its purity, it has good acidity, and it’s a brilliant white that’s going to shine for at least 4-5 years, and I suspect much longer. There’s no need to delay gratification though."
- Jeb Dunnuck (March 2019), 91 pts

Johann Michel Cornas is 100% Syrah

Well structured and round, it displays red fruit, leather, black cherry, liquorice and black berry aromas.

Manual harvest, selection of the grapes from the "Chaillot" parcel, full clusters, fermentation in tanks for 3 weeks, daily remontage and pigeage. Malolactic fermentation in oak barrels and aging on the lees for 12-18 months in barrels (new old barrels) The average age of the vines is 12 years. Yield: 25 hl/ha

Review:

Johann Michel Cornas Cuvee Jana is 100% Syrah.

Black raspberry aromas, licorice, sizzled bacon and smoke. Elegant and pure with depth and well-integrated tannins.

Jana is the name of Johann and Emmanuelle's daughter.

Manual harvest, selection of the grapes from the "Chaillot" parcel, full clusters, fermentation in tanks for 3 weeks, daily remontage and pigeage. Malolactic fermentation in oak barrels and aging on the lees for 12-18 months in barrels (new old barrels) The average age of the vines is 11 years. Yield: 25 hl/ha

Review:

Vivid purple. Highly perfumed, spice- and smoke-accented aromas of ripe dark berries, smoked meat, olive paste and candied violet, lent urgency by a minerally element. At once rich and lively in style, offering concentrated blackberry, blueberry and floral pastille flavors that turn sweeter as the wine opens up. Shows excellent clarity on an impressively long, clinging finish that features youthful, gripping tannins and an emphatic, smoky bacon flourish. All whole clusters. - Josh Raynolds"

- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (September 2019), 94 pts

“Coming from the granitic soils of the Chaillot lieu-dit and vines planted in 2000, the 2017 Cornas Cuvée Jana is the top cuvée and spent 12-14 months in second- and third-fill demi-muids. Its deep purple color is followed by a powerful, ripe, sexy Cornas that offers rocking notes of black fruits, scorched earth, burning ember, smoked game, and hints of tapenade. Complex, deep, and layered on the palate, yet beautifully balanced, it's a knockout bottle of wine that will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and knock your socks off over the following decade or more.” Jeb Dunnuch 95+ pts