Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Nosotros Single Vineyard Nomade is from Altamira in the Uco Valley. Each vintage will be sourced from the best location for Malbec in that year, which is why the wine now has added the word "nomade" to its name. Future editions will be Vista Flores, Gualtallary. The destemmed grapes fermented in open barriques with manual punching down and a long maceration. There is a strong influence from the élevage here, with plenty of smoke, ash, cigar, toast and spices with roasted coffee, cured meat and dark chocolate mixed in and the Malbec character hiding in the background. It matured for 18 months in 100% new French oak barrels, but some of the barrels had a very light toast much like what is normally used for Pinot Noir. The full-bodied palate has plenty of tannins, good freshness and underlying minerality, It is quite powerful and is an XXL red that needs time in bottle.
Susana Balbo graduated from Don Bosco University in Mendoza in 1981 and established herself as Argentina’s first female enologist and, since then, has been considered one of Argentina’s top winemakers. Three times her industry peers elected her to the Presidency of Wines of Argentina because of her work ethic, innovative winemaking techniques and dedication to the worldwide success of Argentine wine.
After working for twenty years as a consulting winemaker, Susana founded her own brand in 2000. In 2001, she broke ground for her winery in Agrelo in the Luján de Cuyo district of Mendoza. There, she makes her Susana Balbo "Signature" line of wines, as well as wines under the Crios, Nosotros and BenMarco labels. Her winemaking approach for the wines that bear her name is to seamlessly apply her human touch and enhance the grape’s innate character.
Over several decades of winemaking in Argentina, Susana has earned a reputation for a pioneering spirit and innovation. She is known for experimenting with various barrel sizes and aging regimens, fermentation of wine in egg-shaped concrete fermenters, and wild yeast fermentations. The Wine Advocate's Luis Gutierrez dubbed her groundbreaking barrel-fermented Torrontés one of the "10 Argentine Wines to Drink before You Die."
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.