2015 Colome Altura Maxima Malbec
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Tasting notes
The 2015 Altura Máxima Malbec is all black olives, decayed violets and malted cereals, a wild and unusual wine with high ripeness but a medium-bodied palate with fine-grained tannins. It is produced with grapes from their seven-year-old vineyard at 3,100 meters in altitude, the highest vineyard in the world producing commercial wine. The grapes were harvested fully ripe at the end of April, which is the equivalent to the end of October in the northern hemisphere. Here, latitude compensates for the altitude, and the grapes manage to ripen fully with strong exposure to sunlight. It matured in fourth use French barriques for 24 months. 6,900 bottles were filled in December 2017.
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
(from a 2007 planting on granite and calcaire soil at an altitude of 10,200 feet): Saturated ruby. An essence of Malbec on the nose, with slightly liqueur-like black fruit, smoky mineral and bitter chocolate flavors complicated by a note of espresso from the wine's oak element (24 months in Taransaud barriques but only 10% new). Wonderfully dense, sappy and concentrated, communicating a powerful impression of soil to its dark berry and deep chocolate flavors. Most impressive today on the slowly building, palate-drenching whiplash of a finish. My one quibble: with its hints of roasted, desiccated fruit, this wine conveys less energy than the 2017 Autentico Malbec.