MATIAS RICCITELLI 2016 VINO DE EL CEPILLO MALBEC

Our South American specialists are loving the wines from Matias Riccitelli, one of the stars of the modern Argentinian wine scene who is injecting new energy and bucking the status quo. Our featured bottling is made from Malbec, but it's no mass-produced supermarket style that might have been popular a decade or so ago! It comes from a particularly cool spot called El Cepillo in the southern part of the Uco Valley, and it's a major factor in creating this stylish and distinctive wine. The Cepillo Malbec is vibrant and pure, mirroring the high-altitude sunlight and fresh Andes snowmelt that feeds the old vines that create intense flavors in an elegant fashion. Pour a glass and you'll be struck by the super-saturated color and deep, clear aromas of fresh macerated blackberry and raspberry imbued with floral character, and a very subtle herbal undercurrent. A stony minerality drives through the palate, and fine - almost chalky - tannin adds welcome texture. The medium-full bodied fruit weight is not cloying as it drives you through the dry finish, leaving the palate ready for more!

WINE ADVOCATE 94 POINTS - "Part of the new single-vineyard range, the 2016 Vino de El Cepillo Finca La Trinidad comes from a plot in the limit between El Cepillo and El Indio in the San Carlos department, a very cold place...and 2016 was a very cold year too. So, the wine is extremely floral, with very good aromatic intensity, very balanced and harmonious, with very fine tannins and great freshness. 12,000 bottles produced. 2016 was the first vintage, and it was bottled in September 2017 after one year in used barriques to keep the typicity of the place."