2021 Catena Zapata, Mundus Bacillus Terrae, Adrianna Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina

Violets and herb-strewn rose petals curl out of the glass, along with cola, mint, flint, slate, hawthorn, blueberry and black cherry fruit. One of the things that I love about this wine is how it rewrites the perception of Argentinian Malbec that is known for its velvety sweet and smooth flavours, whereas this puts the texture and the grip back to its heart, along with a vivid brightness of fruit. There is chocolate here, but it is cocoa bean, focused and gripping and full of joy. Alejandro Vigil winemaker. Tasted twice.

Drink 2026 - 2042

From Gualtallary Monasterio. Malbec from a 1.4-ha parcel with limestone and marine deposits and particularly rich in rhizobacteria, hence the name of the wine ‘elegant microbes of the earth’. 75% of the wine starts fermentation in concrete 50% whole cluster) and 25% is fermented in oak foudres just juice) with fermentation temperature peaking at 25–30 °C. 8–13 days’ maceration. Aged for 15–18 months in French oak barrels.

Whatever the rhizobacteria’s impact on the wine is, it is clear that this is a wine born for long ageing and is still a baby on opening today. There’s compact bright red fruit with hints of graphite, cigar box and violet, offering a complex – albeit tightly wound – nose. In the palate it has a chalky tension and energetic acidity with hints of crunchy red fruit and seductive spices. A wine for the long haul.

Drink 2025 - 2042

The 2021 Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae comes from 1.4 hectares within the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary, planted in 1992 at 1,390 meters above sea level. It's from a cooler year in Mendoza with some frost that delivered low yields and wines of good concentration and ripeness. It has 13.9% alcohol and notable acidity 7.3 grams of tartaric acid per liter of wine). Seventy-five percent of the volume started fermenting in concrete with 50% full clusters and the rest without stems or skins, only juice, in oak foudres and aged in oak barrels for 15 to 18 months. This is very straight, elegant and balanced, following the path toward elegance that started in 2019. The wine closed down in the glass and slowly unfurled layers of complexity. It's textured, with very fine-grained tannins and great balance, a very subtle note of spices and a very elegant mouthfeel. This wine has been getting better and better in the last few years, getting closer to the more austere profile of the River bottling from Adrianna vineyard which is still a little more austere than this in the great 2021 vintage). 5,400 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2022.

Drink 2024 - 2036