Furlotti Malbec 2017

Region: Mendoza, Argentina

Grape Variety: Malbec

Former New World Red Club Selection

The Furlotti family trace their roots in Argentina to 1888, when Angelo Furlotti immigrated from Parma, Italy. Already a skilled viticulturist, he was one of the first in the country to seek out great vineyard land, looking far beyond the areas around the city of Mendoza. Eventually he planted vineyards in Altamira, Vistalba, Agrelo and Lunlunta, purchasing his first winery in 1914. For several decades the family thrived, eventually owning more than 5,000 acres of vines and a substantial holding of olive trees as well. Over time they came to be growers more than winemakers, but in 2014 Angelo’s great-grand daughter, Gabriela Furlotti relaunched this winery, using a vineyard owned by her grandfather.

For this bottling, the first released to the US, the grape source is the Lunlunta vineyard, which straddles the regions of Maipú and Lujan de Cuyo. Being closer to the city of Mendoza these vineyards are older than those found in the Valle de Uco to the south. They are also at lower elevation, 2500 feet above sea level compared to at least 3000 for those in the Valle to Uco. Finally, with close proximity to the Mendoza River there is more clay in the soils, which is good for drought resistance and gives the wines more structure.

It is obvious in the technical notes that Gabriela, and her winemaker Manuel Zalazar, work hard to minimize the tannins of this wine. After hand sorting and destemming the fruit goes through a short pre-fermentation maceration to extract some color. The wine then goes through fermentation using native yeast, then 30% of the wine is racked to older barrels, the remainder to stainless steel tank. After 8 months the wine is assembled and bottled, but held back an additional year before release. Now this wine has been in the bottle for almost 5 years so it is hitting the window of perfect drinkability.

Since this wine has been closed up for so long we strongly recommend you decant it for at least a half-hour before serving to allow it to open up. Once you this reveals more tertiary, savory notes of old leather, dried sage and thyme, dried blueberry, and fresh blackberry. On the palate it displays good concentration, with nicely integrated tannins framing the fruit, with a very long finish. Drink young with pasta with Italian sausage, duck braised with olives or Beef Wellington.