Vina Alicia is a small jewel of a winery located in Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza. The 25 hectare winery experiments with clones imported from all over the world. The other property is a 15 hectare vineyard which produces Malbec and the Brote Negro (Black Shoot) grape, a mutation of Malbec from 90 year old vines. The vineyards are farmed for very low yields and harvest is done completely by hand. This winery is a very much a high-end boutique winery but still quite a unique winery among the Argentine wineries.

Vina Alicia malbec
An expression of ‘terroir’ coming from 90 year old vines located in Las Compuertas, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza at an altitude of 1200 meters above sea level. Production is three bunches of grape per vine making for a truly special malbec. The bouquet is characterized by pungent and scintillating earthiness and minerality. Black currant and blueberry flavours are permeated by pepper and clove, that are followed by layers of fruitcake, wheat-meal and dried porcini that seamlessly integrate with the polished oak and burnished tannins for an effect that carefully balances elegance with rusticity; malbec, above all, should never lose a touch of wildness

Morena cab sauv
An exceptional combination of five clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and two of Cabernet Franc grown together in a single plot in Lunlunta, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza at 900 meters above sea level. Piercing purity and intensity bring boldly ripe cassis, raspberry and plum scents and flavours permeated by pinpoint lead pencil, cedar and tobacco notes, all enlivened by a scintillating mineral element. Whole boxes of dried spice and potpourri explode in the nose, etching gorgeous fruit with intricate detail, while dense, dusty tannins and bell-tone acidity provide a hefty yet vibrant structure. The finish, no surprise, is long, deep, dry and austere.

Nebbiolo
Combining three clones of Nebbiolo grown in a single plot in Lunlunta, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza at 900 meters above sea level we get this ‘giant’ among wines. The grape that makes those monuments of Piedmontese wines, Barolo and Barbaresco, is here turned into a stew of tar and spice, macerated and roasted currant and black cherry flavours edged with dried fruit and bitter chocolate and fruitcake steeped in port; the elements of smoke and minerals alone could fill pages of description. The wine spends a “short time” in French with some American oak, which seems the proper course to provide firmness yet allow the grape to express itself with such stirring eloquence.

Cuarzo
This wine owes its name to the fact that quartz is the most important mineral in the soil composition where Petit Verdot is grown. Derived from the same ‘mother plant’ this vineyard located in Lulunta, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza at 900 meters above sea level took 15 years to complete. Along with the Petit Verdot, some Grenache Noir and Carignan have been blended to create this wine. Purple in every sense, this incredibly deep, dark intense wine seems to pay homage to every strata of earth and minerals upon which its vineyard rests. It’s thick, dense, and chewy, displaying heaps of smoke and ash and smouldering potpourri, black currant marmalade and blackberry jam with a sort of hot jelly undertone and a strain of wild berry. The tannins and oaky structure is firm yet finely-grained and plush. Exotic

Brote negro
Black Shoot’ Malbec is a natural rarity detected in a 115 year old Malbec vineyard located in Las Compuertas, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza at 1200 meters above sea level. Differing from all other known Malbec’s because of its black shoots, black fruit and smaller looser berries this is the only known vineyard of its kind. ‘Brote Negro’ makes an immediately rich, warm and appealing presentation, but that impression is quickly followed by a tremendous hit of minerals, earth and underbrush that mark the wine’s structure from top to seemingly fathomless depths. It’s a wine of remarkable presence and resonance. Pure and vibrant black currant, blueberry and blackberry flavours are seemingly macerated and roasted to extract every molecule of intensity. The kind of wine for which the term “character” was invented.