Impenetrable ruby with dark edges. Prettiest nose this year. Just so pretty. I could smell it forever and ever. Just smell it. One of those wines–and we all have a few of these stashed away in our memory-banks–which you would continue to buy if you found out tomorrow you could never drink wine again. You would buy this wine and just smell it. Just smell it…. A floral so delicate and heavy-handed. A spice so fragile and concentrated. Fruit swells hardcore, rich black cherry with a breath of burnt rubber and racing clutch. A collaboration between Rothschild and Catena, this 50% Malbec masterpiece just SINGS. Recommended by my friend David Wilson of Grape Encounters Radio at his new local brick-and-mortar wineshop. Actually, he didn’t recommend, he pre-tasted me, insisting I try this wine, and all I needed was one whiff of the nose and I knew it was something to be dealt with seriously. Barnyard, urine-stained fresh hay brings a subtle earthy-point to the otherwise dearthly-concentrated fruit late-nose/early entry. Chocolate and caramel dominate. In the mouth, EVERYTHING shown in the nose transfers seamlessly to the tongue–accompanied with ample acid and early tannin. I don’t want to over-think this wine: it is what it is and it is wonderful and an absolute MUST-TRY. Brilliant chalky tannins escort the still-vibrant fruit out the exit. Wow. Love this wine.
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2012 AMANCAYA Gran Reserva Bodegas Caro Bec/Cab 54/46 14-5