Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Amorio is my favorite from the lineup, a blend of 85% Malbec and 15% Petit Verdot from Vista Flores in the Uco Valley. It has a wonderful, complex, subtle and elegant bouquet with a sense of freshness and some earthy hints. The palate is silky, with very fine tannins and great acidity. Subtle and easy to drink, I love this elegant red. It is a good value. Drink 2014-2020.
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Wine Spectator
The fig, dark plum and dried cherry flavors are well-integrated and balanced in this rich, focused style, firmly tannic, with plenty of power behind the notes of graphite and hot stone. Finishes with hints of sandalwood and nutmeg.
There are few wine brands that reflect the sensibilities of their owner more than Tikal. A skilled horseman, fashion designer, software developer, and book editor, Ernesto pursues all that gives pleasure in life. This hedonism (in the best sense of the word) shows through in the wines. It is a style meant to provide enormous pleasure rather than provoke contemplation; an expression of emotion rather than intellect. He has named his wines with passion in mind: Patriota (Patriot), Corazon (Heart), Amorio (Love Affair), Jubilo (Rejoice).
Luis Reginato is the winemaker at Tikal as of the 2002 vintage. Luis is young, but is already a highly trained and respected vineyard consultant and winemaker with long experience at his family's winery in Mendoza. Truly an up and coming talent, Luis and his wines are already garnering high praise from U.S. wine critics. Definitely a winemaker to watch.
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.