2011 Antucura "Calcura" Vista Flores Mendoza 750 ml

Dinner with Patricio Tapia at Le Parisien — Duck Confit and 94-point “Calcura”

We’d been tracking down Patricio Tapia for the better part of 18 months, trying to book a dinner date with the founder of Descorchados — the world’s most thorough and reliable guide to the wines of South America. Last night, we struck paydirt, and spent two hours with Patricio at Le Parisien on 33rd Street.

Over a bottle of the 94-point 2011 Antucura “Calcura” — a Napa-like Cabernet Sauvignon drawn from the rugged plains of Vista Flores — Tapia helped us understand why Descorchados has outpaced The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator as a go-to guide to the great reds of Argentina.

At the age of 11, Patricio Tapia’s grandfather popped the cork on a vintage bottle from Cousiño Macul, drawn from Alto Maipo, at the foot of the Cordillera de Los Andes in Central Chile. Señor Tapia poured two ounces of that perfectly aged red into a 4-ounce cup he’d offered to his son a year before on Patricio’s 11th birthday.

Little Patricio did as he’d been taught to do. First, he evaluated the dark ruby color of a wine that showed little sign of its 10 years in bottle. Dexterously, he swirled his small glass, doing his best to keep wine from splashing over the rim. Patricio then took his first taste of one of the finest Chilean wines of its time. As the journalist told us last night over duck confit dinner, his future career took shape on the spot.

After completing his studies at the enology school at l’Université de Bordeaux, Patricio returned to Santiago and published his first volume of Descorchados in 1999. While other critical journals give short shrift to the small estates of Chile and Argentina, Tapia’s coverage in Descorchados, focused exclusively on South America, is distinctive and authoritative.

Before the double espressos hit the table, the charismatic Chileno had offered unusual insights into dozens of the rising stars of Argentina, none more extraordinary than Anne-Caroline Bianchieri’s Antucura, under the direction of Bordeaux émigré Hervé Chagneau.

The 2011 Antucura “Calcura” is one of the most powerful Bordeaux blends ever to come off this magnificent property. Opaque purple, with bold aromas of crushed blackberry, black cherry, kirsch, and a touch of new-wood cedar. Rich, plush, and intensely concentrated, it comes in at a whopping 15.5% in alcohol, while still buttressed by nearly 6 grams per liter of acidity. Silken in texture, with sumptuous tannic structure. Drink now-2019.

94 points from Patricio Tapia’s Descorchados. $30 on release. $16.50 this morning. 1,800 bottles are up for grabs.