Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
93+ pts
Familia Belasco's 2008 Swinto Malbec was sourced from a 100-year-old vineyard planted exclusively to Malbec with yields of a meager 1.5 tons per acre. It was aged for 18 months in new French oak and bottled without filtration. A glass-coating opaque purple color, it sports an inviting nose of pain grille, mineral, licorice, espresso, violets, black cherry and black raspberry. Dense and layered on the palate, this loaded, already complex effort will profit from 4-5 years of cellaring and should see its 20th birthday in full form.
Most distinguished and celebrated from Argentina’s Mendoza, Malbec has seen runaway success since the early 2000s. Mendoza’s agreeable, continental climate with hot, dry summers and cold snowy winters allows the perfect conditions for growing outstanding Malbec. This grape is easy to like for its lusty, deep flavors and aromas of blackberry, plum, red cherry, autumn spice and tilled earth. It’s easy to find delicious, fruit-driven, affordable everyday examples and in prices beyond, quite exceptional ones with dense, supple textures that make them capable of aging.