We are smelling bacon in this wine for the first time. It is an interesting aroma that is unfamiliar but welcome nonetheless. It is a deep blue-based red with a purple hue wine opens with the aromas of stem tannin, currents, bacon, blackberries, and lavender oil. The medium acidity is a more gentle background for the secondary notes of the fruit. The Sunday morning bacon nose has hints of tobacco and cedar. Flavors of brambly fruits, current and lavender oil persist in the mouth. The stem tannin (65% whole cluster) leaves a lovely texture on the extremely long finish.
Saturated bright, dark ruby. Almost forty yet fresh scents of blackberry, blueberry, cassis, menthol, licorice, bitter chocolate, espresso, and violet; convey an urgent dark berry character. Sappy, densely packed, smooth, and classically dry, showing lovely ripeness to its dark berry and dark chocolate flavors lifted by violet. Suppler and more forthcoming than the 2017 Amparo Malbec, despite its youth. Still young and quite primary but even today the substantial tannins are supple and fine-grained. Finishes with a note of violet lift. Better balanced early than the 2017, not to mention nicely concentrated. There is a complicating touch of herbs here but not the peppery quality of the ’17. – Stephen Tanzer 91 PTS
