Wine Of The Week: Alta Vista Alto

When French winemaker Patrick d’Aulan came to Argentina in 1998, he brought more than two centuries of family wine wisdom with him from the Champagne region. That legacy of experience (and a support time of French and Argentinian winemakers) was directed toward a single purpose: taking Mendoza’s high-altitude terroir and making some great wines. 

Alta Vista Alto is the crown jewel of this enterprise — a 75 percent Malbec, 25 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, dark fruit powerhouse that has achieved impressive scores for more than two decades. The grapes for Alto go through several selection passes after being harvested from low-yielding vineyard parcels. Alta Vista’s winemakers harvest the grape varietals separately, ferment and age the resulting wines separately in French oak before blending. 

Alto is rich with dark berries — black cherry, blackberry, currant, and plum. Gentle herbal notes and sweet oak spice balance the rich, juicy, overripe core of this wine; you’ll find hints of black pepper, bay leaf and green pepper along the velvety, creamy way, before a finish that teases coffee bean and gentle wisps of smoke.

Alta Vista continuously nods to this wine’s decade-plus aging potential (it spends a minimum of 12 months in bottle and 14 in oak before you’ll ever see it), but uncorked today there’s already plenty offered, including a dialed-in acidity, hints of cedar, and an eye-catching ruby red color. In other words, age it at your own discretion — it’s already drinking great. $70

G. Clay Whittaker is a Maxim contributor covering lifestyle, whiskey, cannabis and travel. His work has also appeared in Bon Appetit, Men’s Journal, Cigar Aficionado, Playboy and Esquire. Subscribe to his newsletter Drinks & Stuff for wine reviews and trends, perspectives on drinks, and stuff.