Bodega El Porvenir de Cafayate 2021
North Region · Salta · Proprietary Blends · red
About this wine
95 POINTS! From a simply staggering 5,700 feet above sea level – this is mile-high MADNESS and then some! Way under $25 means you cannot miss this!!! Tim Atkin – known internationally as the Southern Hemisphere’s Robert Parker – has named El Porvenir de Cafayate winemaker Paco Puga as his ‘Winemaker of the Year’...and one glass into this exceptionally fresh and impeccably concentrated Malbec blend – I get it…truly. There’s some otherworldly skill on display here…especially at our WICKED price! If you think you know Argentinian Malbec – you need to think again. The fruit-bomb, purple-drink, and overly saccharine wines of yesteryear are still the norm outside of South America…sadly. But like my boy, Bobby D. says…the times, they are a’changing! If you look closely, or trust your web-based wine scribe and our crack team of buyers to do all the dirty work – there are a well-chosen, carefully-vetted few – LIKE THIS – that break that mold. The quality producers are pursuing lower yields, and utilizing higher elevation vineyards, with more precise winemaking, and that all-important vision of what Argentina’s greatest terroirs are all about! Enter Cafayate en Salta – nearly 800 MILES north of Mendoza, set in the high elevations of the Andes, bordering Chile. This mountainous region is understandably off the radar, but all of that is changing…quickly. The gorgeous red rock outcroppings look like Zion or Bryce National Parks on steroids, and the laid-back lifestyle, epic local cuisine, and budding eco-tourism and wine industry make this the next great region in South America. I mean, where else can you get a winery’s FLAGSHIP bottling, with a whopping 95-point score, for just $22? It’s a short list, no question. And the wine?! KILLER! Blueberries, and plums, with dragonfruit, and black cherry compote, then crushed raspberries, and high-toned hibiscus, and tartly tannic little bursts of fresh coffee cherries…WOWZA! Incredible freshness, with this wet slate and crushed granite minerality, all buttressed by flecks of wild herbs, baking spices, and even a little POP of blood orange zest to give this some serious ZING! It’s cool, and perfectly balanced, with texture that is substantial but never heavy…almost like a really good Cab Franc from Mount Veeder or Spring Mountain. 70% Malbec, 13% Cabernet Franc, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Tannat…and this just might come in just before 2026 to claim the title of the absolute BEST below-the-equator wine I tasted all…dang…YEAR! Only TWENTY TWO BUCKS?! Get a lot. And book your tickets to Salta, good people!
Wine details
- Producer
- Bodega
- Vintage
- 2021
- Region
- North Region
- Appellation
- Salta
- Varietal
- Proprietary Blends
- Blend
- 80% Malbec, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Tannat,
- Color
- red
- Winemaker
- Francisco
- Alcohol
- 14.5
- Last Bottle price
- $22
- Retail price (estimate)
- $50
- CellarTracker score
- 89.7 (3 reviews)
- Critic score
- 95 — Tim Atkin