2018 Kauzo Estates Malbec Terroir Expressions Hostage La Consulta Vineyard Uco Valley 750 ml

When you can get a wine from a 100-point winemaker and one of the world’s premier sites for Malbec, you grab as much as you can. That’s exactly what we did with the 2018 Kauzo Malbec Terroir Expressions Hostage La Consulta Vineyard from Argentina’s Uco Valley.

A silky, complex, 94-point Malbec grown in one of Argentina’s top regions and crafted by Marcelo Pelleriti—one of the few South American winemakers to earn a perfect score from Robert Parker—this wine has everything going for it. 

For a bottle that overdelivers like this one, superstar winemaking is just one part of the equation. Superstar terroir is the other. Located in southern Uco Valley, La Consulta’s diverse palette of soils, high elevations, and dry climate produces some of the world’s most iconic Malbecs, like Zuccardi’s Finca Los Membrillos and Catena Zapata’s Nicasia Vineyard.

In 2018, the Uco Valley experienced “nearly ideal growing conditions,” according to Wine Spectator, yielding beautifully ripened grapes with plenty of fine-grained tannins. Kauzo’s high-elevation vineyard offered a combination of plentiful sunlight and cool nights that produced bold fruit flavors and refreshing acidity. Pelleriti’s team handpicks the Malbec, fermenting it in stainless steel before aging it for twelve months each in barrel and bottle. 

The result is today’s elegant, wonderfully poised wine. It shows the perfect balance of its high-profile neighbors, beginning with its black fruit, pepper, and mocha aromas. Plush on the palate with fine tannins, its fruit notes give way to flourishes of violet and black olive, which linger on the long finish.

94 points. A legendary winemaker. A top Malbec vineyard. This is an easy call.