2014 Limavida Single Vineyard Old Bush Vines Malbec

This shows delicious old-vine character with bark, cedar, tar and fresh herbs. The tannins are very compact but muscular and the acidity is so vibrant that, for a moment, you forget you’re drinking a malbec altogether. Medium-to full-bodied and incredibly flavorful. A stunning malbec. Decant before drinking. Drink in 2023.

The 2014 Old Vines Field Blend Limávida was only bottled two weeks before I tasted it, almost three years after it was harvested. As I have reported before, the wine is sourced from a 2.3-hectare, head-pruned, ungrafted, dry-farmed Maule vineyard planted in 1945 with a field blend, mainly Malbec (close to 85%) and other red grapes such as Carménère, Cabernet Sauvignon and other unidentified varieties on granitic soils. It is the oldest vineyard they work in the northernmost part of the valley that produces a wine of marked personality. Ripeness was moderate, and the wine was bottled at 13% alcohol after being fermented from grapes picked early in the morning to avoid the heat, native fermentation and aging in second use 5,000-liter oak foudres until bottling. There are more black fruits and spices here, and I always find it a little more mainstream than the other single vineyard bottlings. It has some earthy tannins but good balance in the palate, with good freshness. This is the one that seems to really need more time. It had one extra year of élevage. 13,300 bottles produced.