2017 Aluvional Gualtallary Malbec

I was surprised by the austerity of the 2017 Aluvional Gualtallary, whose grapes come from the area informally called Gualtallary Monasterio, a subzone that should be defined when the appellation is defined. Monasterio is next to the Lomas del Jaboncillo, a plot with limestone on the surface, while higher up there is a lot of sand. The place is very diverse, and here the wines are wilder and more mineral. They like this part of Gualtallary, where they now have 70 hectares planted, even though not all the vines are in production yet. Gualtallary is very diverse and there is a need to differentiate the diverse soils and altitudes, from 1,100 to almost 1,700 meters! They arrived a little later to Gualtallary and had the knowledge to select where they wanted to plant their vineyards. This was harvested very early, and Gualtallary is the first place to be harvested in the Valle de Uco. The texture is liquid chalk, mineral and austere, with very fine tannins and a dry finish. 12,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2018.