2019 Manos Negras Artesano Malbec Paraje Altamira 750 ml

We’re not sure anyone knows more about growing Malbec than Alejandro Sejanovich.

He was the vineyard director for legendary producer Catena Zapata for nearly two decades, scouting new sites and supervising the planting and cultivation of vineyards that explored the upper limits of elevation for the grape.

What he learned was that farming at high-altitude was tricky—and rewarding. The cold, windy, rocky sites stress vines, but the resulting grapes are small and thick-skinned, and produce wines of incomparable character and concentration.

So when Alejandro set out to make his own wines, he and his partner, friend and sommelier Jeff Mausbach, looked to Mendoza’s prestigious Paraje Altamira appellation, where Malbec grows at nearly 4,000’ above sea level.

The world has taken notice—in addition to the 93 point score for this wine, Alejandro was named 2021 Winemaker of the Year by Master of Wine Tim Atkin. For Manos Negras—named after the way hands-on winemakers’ hands turn black from grape pigment during harvest—that means only using native-yeast fermentation, combined with judicious use of new oak. This wine, one of the winery’s signature bottlings, sees over a year of aging in French oak, but only 20% of it is new. 

That’s just enough to polish the tannins and overlay a discreet blend of spice and cocoa onto the rich fruit, but not enough to overwhelm the natural beauty of the terroir. We’re using it as an excuse to throw an Argentine-style asado—a celebration of a nearly endless variety of meat cooked on the grill—but it was delicious recently with a roasted-red-pepper and walnut spread on grilled pita, as well.