Winemaker Notes
A wine of an Intense, red color with aromas of fresh cherries, ripe plum and vanilla. In the mouth, black fruits (especially blueberries) and black pepper stand out harmoniously. Its ripe, vibrant tannins provide it with an elegant structure and a long, persistent finish.
Pair with roasted or grilled meats, empanadas, and chili.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Spicy nose with some fennel and white pepper on top of the currants and red berry fruit. Juicy and even on the palate with firm and fine-grained tannins.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Crios Cabernet Sauvignon was produced with grapes from different vineyards in the Valle de Uco, mostly Los Chacayes and Los Árboles, fermented in stainless steel and with 40% of the wine matured in neutral and well-seasoned oak barrels for seven months. There is a notable absence of green aromas here—yes, it's herbal, spicy and varietal but not green, as it has good ripeness and some 14.5% alcohol and mellow acidity giving it a soft mouthfeel. In the last few years, they have shortened the time in barrel, lowered the toast of the barrels and gone for older barrels, and the wines feel more harmonious and more fruit-driven.
Rating: 90+ -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2022 Susana Balbo Crios Cabernet Sauvignon is beautifully balanced and deeply satisfying, offering harmonious layers of garden herbs, dark fruits, and subtle licorice. Pair it with stuffed red bell peppers brimming with onions, cheese, and warming spices. (Tasted: June 16, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
After 22 years of winemaking, Susana Balbo has a strong sense of what she wants from her wines. From every harvest, she creates the grandest possible wines under her Susana Balbo label. To achieve this, she makes a rigorous selection of the finest barrels prior to making her final blends, dividing them into the parents (reserve level wines) and offspring or "crios."
Wines under her Crios label display ripe fruit flavors, excellent balance and concentration, and are meant to be enjoyed in their vibrant youth. These wines are produced under Dominio del Plata's code of sustainable agriculture.
Like Susana's own crios (a boy and a girl), they are extremely lovable and fun to be around. The label features a series of three connected and overlapping hands, an image inspired by a Mayan artifact. The artifact illustrates the interconnectedness of every generation, and the irony that we will be both the parent and the offspring at different times in our lives.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
By far the largest and best-known winemaking province in Argentina, Mendoza is responsible for over 70% of the country’s enological output. Set in the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountains, the climate is dry and continental, presenting relatively few challenges for viticulturists during the growing season. Mendoza, divided into several distinctive sub-regions, including Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, is the source of some of the country’s finest wines.
For many wine lovers, Mendoza is practically synonymous with Malbec. Originally a Bordelaise variety brought to Argentina by the French in the mid-1800s, here it found success and renown that it never knew in its homeland where a finicky climate gives mixed results. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir are all widely planted here as well (and sometimes even blended with each other or Malbec). Mendoza's main white varieties include Chardonnay, Torrontés, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.