Wines

90 Points! Attractive nose of plums, fresh blueberries, thyme and orange zest. Fruity and crunchy with a medium to full body, easy tannins and fresh finish. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

From the importer: Barrialto Sobre Lías Santa Brigida, bottled from a single 500L butt, is a blend of two different albariza soil sub-types. Palomino grapes from Pago Balbaína Baja near Jerez (albariza tosca cerrada soils), with grapes from Pago Maína, near Sanlúcar, (albariza barajuelas soil). Rafa says that the tosca cerrada albrariza lends the blend balance and fitness, while the barrajuela albariza lends a dry minerality and herbal salinity. Each wine Rafa produces is a unique snapshot of a place, time, and soil type in his vineyards in the Jerez region. As a result, production of these authentic treasures is in the hundreds of bottles, and they are exceptionally limited, coming to the US market in tiny allocations.

Hand-harvested palomino grapes (from 40+ year-old vines) are de-stemmed and pressed, followed by spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts from the vineyard without temperature control in a 500L ex-Manzanilla cask. After fermentation, it rests for nine months on its fine lees with bâtonnage in the same barrels before being racked into a stainless steel tank to settle before bottling unfined, with only a light paper filtration and minimal additional sulfur used before bottling.

90 Points! Blueberries, dark chocolate, blackberries, bark and tobacco leaves on the nose. Dark and inky with a full body, fine tannins and savory finish. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

From 100+ Year-Old Vines!

95+ Points! The 2021 Concreto Malbec has to be one of the finest vintages of this wine despite its youth and still shy personality. But there are tons of flowers, wild herbs and berries there waiting to emerge in an insinuating way, with austerity but unfurling layers and layers as the wine sits in the glass. It's incredibly fine-boned with chalky tannins that scream limestone, full of precision and purity. For Sebastián Zuccardi, they didn't do anything different, it's just the character of the year. This is the wine that explains their philosophy without breaking your piggy bank. It is delicious, serious, approachable and with aging potential. What else do you want? I have sometimes confused this wine blind with one of their top bottlings. This is one of the best values around. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! Such a brooding nose with black pepper, violet and fresh blueberry and blackberry fruit. Spicy and tight on the palate, but super polished, racy and refined. Medium-to full-bodied red with beautiful tannin tension and expressive, floral notes in the finish. Exemplary and authentic! So delicious now. Why wait? - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! The 2021 Malbec Concreto from Paraje Altamira, Uco Valley was aged in concrete. Purple in the glass. It has a crisp, expressive nose of fresh plum, sour cherry and hints of blackberry, herbs, violets and lavender. Free-flowing but relaxed in the mouth, the palate leaves behind a mixture of chalk and juicy freshness before the sustained, pure fruit finish. The year suited this style perfectly. - Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous Media

92 Points! The varietal Serie A range includes wines from the "Argentinean" varieties, and the star of this range is, of course, the 2022 Serie A Malbec. Here they search for typicity from Valle de Uco, with freshness and flowers, red rather than black fruit, nice tannic structure and purity; they are not looking for complexity or limestone but varietal character, at which this excels. This has juiciness and structure and is fine-boned. It is very different from the Bonarda in this range. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

97 Points! A complex nose of raspberries, redcurrants, blueberries, spices and dried herbs. It’s medium-bodied with elegant tannins. Round, juicy and layered on the palate, offering great harmony and balance. Fresh, yet complex with a savory finish. Old-vine character. The vines are more than a century old. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

The oldest Malbec vines in Chile, planted 1890!

Les Polissons is produced from 30-year-old vines, this is a generous and open wine that is made to be drunk young. It has broad berry fruits, supple tannins, and refreshing acidity.

94 Points! Blueberries, cassis, lemon peel, sandalwood and mahogany on the nose. Dried basil, too. Medium-bodied with fleshy, chewy tannins and bright acidity. Herbal, spicy and flavorful. Excellent length. 80% malbec, 10% syrah and 10% cabernet franc. Drink after 2023. - JamesSuckling.com

The NV Solear Manzanilla is 100% Palomino from the Gibalbin and Santa Lucia vineyards grown on albariza soils, and averaging seven years aging under a veil of flor. The perfumed nose is dominated by roasted almonds, dry flowers (chamomile), bread dough and a whiff of sea breeze. The medium-bodied palate is crisp and penetrating, with a long finish. A subtle Manzanilla, ideal for tapas and sushi.- Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93 Points! The elegant, complex and fresh 2017 Malbec Gran Reserva was produced with one hectare of extremely old vines. It's fermented with a small percentage of Semillon grapes in barriques that are rolled, then the wine matures in those barriques for some 24 months. The wine is still marked by the élevage in barrel with smoky and tasty aromas, and it's hard to get to the delicate floral notes in the nose. It's very long in the finish, with grainy tannins and a serious, dry finish. It needs time to finish absorbing the oak, but it has the stuffing to do so. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The 2019 Malbec Estate Selection from Uco Valley offers precise and attractive notes of fresh, sour cherry, plum and hints of lavender, violet and thyme. On the palate, it is a mix of flavors framed by fine, reactive tannins. Finishes juicy, with well-integrated freshness and fruity flavors - Joaquín Hidalgo, Vinous Media

97 Points! The site-specific 2018 Malbec Appellation Gualtallary comes from specific soils, two plots that they believe transmit the maximum expression of limestone to Malbec, giving a structured wine with fine-grained tannins but a little wild. The vines are on stony and gravelly soils with a high percentage of limestone and sand with around 3% clay at 1,300 meters in altitude. The grapes fermented in small concrete vats with indigenous yeasts at some 25 degrees Celsius for 15 days. It matured in untoasted 3,500-liter French oak foudres for 18 months and no less than 12 months in bottle. This comes from sandy soils and very low yields that give it chalkier tannins and a savage way. This has a slightly rustic touch, vertical and with some lightness. There's always a fresh touch of aromatic herbs (thyme and rockrose), with a textured palate and very tasty and clean flavors in the finish. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

The NV Fino Jarana, aged in Jerez, has a beautiful, classical Fino nose of chalk, dry hay, dry straw (esparto) and nuts, while the palate is very dry, intense and pungent, long, with a pleasant bitter finish. It’s both intense and fine.- Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com