Cheval des Andes Lujan de Cuyo 2018

This is a plush, rich Cheval with blueberry and floral aromas and flavours. Hints of tar and fresh lavender. Full body. The depth and richness are impressive, as are the ripe yet fresh tannins. Very long and structured, yet controlled and in balance. This will be a great wine indeed.

100,000 bottles were produced. It was bottled in January 2020.

The 2018 Cheval des Andes is a blend of 70% Malbec and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon fermented in small lots in 3,000- to 8,000-litre tanks and matured 40% in 225-litre oak barrels, 40% in 400-litre oak barrels and the remaining 20% in 2,500-litre oak vats for 13 months. 90% of the oak used was French, and the rest was a blend of Austrian, Slovenian and German oak, 50% of it new. 2018 has been one of the best vintages in recent times in Mendoza, and the wine shows it. It's a cooler vintage, and the wine has improved in freshness and elegance without losing clout.

It's 14.5% alcohol and has a pH of 3.73. This is young, juicy, elegant, balanced, and still has some herbal and toasted notes; it's medium to full-bodied, with the creamy and luxurious texture of the modern Bordeaux, ultra-fine tannins and a long, dry, precise finish. It's still undeveloped and has all the components and the balance between them for a long and positive development in bottle. With wines like this, I sometimes wish I had a time machine so I could see them in 20 years from now... I think this is the finest Cheval des Andes I've ever tasted.

Drink 2022 - 2040

The 2018 Cheval Des Andes is a blend of 70% Malbec – half from Las Compuertas and half from Paraje Altamira – and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon from Las Compuertas. It was aged in barrels and foudres, 50% in new oak. Purplish red in the glass. It shows an expressively complex nose of plum, cherry and hints of spice, pepper, ink, blackberry, and blackcurrant. The oak provides a profound and subtle backdrop of sweet spice. In the mouth, it’s viscous and broad with a little juice, velvety in texture and with very fine tannins. The finish is long-lasting with a satisfying feel. A relaxed, delicate, extremely well-balanced wine with a more generous core than the 2017 vintage.

Drink 2021 - 2038

Lovely depth to the fruit, clear chocolate, liquorice, rosemary and black pepper spice, along with blueberry, black cherry, nuances of orange rind. A relatively low level of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend compared to some years, but it still pulls its weight in terms of the aromatics profile. Gérald Gabillet director and winemaker previously at Château Angélus in St Emilion).

Drink 2026 - 2042

Continuing the trend of more Malbec in the blend, the 2018 Cheval Des Andes is another remarkable wine based on 70% Malbec and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon that was fermented in tank and aged in 40% new Bordeaux barrels, with the balance in larger 400-liter barrels and one larger 2,500-liter oak vat. While the cooperage here is mostly French, they also include a touch of Eastern European oak.

Tasting like the 2016, only better, this beauty has gorgeous cassis, black cherry, and black raspberry fruit and plenty of ripe tobacco, green cedar, rosemary, damp earth, and spring flower-like aromas and flavours. As with the 2016, there’s a herbal, subtly green undercurrent here although it’s more mitigated here), but this is just pure, focused, and impeccably balanced, with beautiful fruit, gorgeous tannins, and an undeniable salinity on the finish. It is a brilliant wine with another 10-15 years of prime drinking.

Drink 2022 - 2037