2019 Vinyes Ocults Malbec Uco Valley Mendoza 750 ml

Winemaker Tomás Stahringer doesn’t have the manpower and vast holdings of Mendoza’s powerhouse wineries. 

His first vintage, crafted in his parents’ garage, yielded just 550 bottles—then sold out in two months, after becoming a hot ticket in collector circles. Now, by releasing small-quantity wines from a clique of closely guarded top vineyards, he’s putting out Malbec that competes with bottles that go for twice the price—or WAY more.

In the late 2000s, word started getting around about a garagiste in Argentina whose wines were making waves despite there being hardly any bottles to speak of. That winemaker was Tomás Stahringer. 

Quality sets his wines apart, but also a winemaking philosophy that borders on mysticism, signaled by the image of a grinning skull that leers from his wine labels. He sees wine as a living thing animated by the vineyard spirits that gave it life: the Andean glacial melt that refreshes the vines, the years of winegrowing knowledge that shaped the vineyard, and the people who tirelessly worked the land. This sensitivity to the environment and the grape informs his golden touch, which brings an elegance and balance seldom seen in bargain-priced wines.

Vinyes ocults means “hidden vineyard” in Catalan, and while the sites Stahringer draws from might be concealed by poplar trees, it’s not much of a mystery why they turn out such superb wines. Massive diurnal swings here in the high desert allow the grapes to reach huge phenolic ripeness basking in the daytime sunshine, while chilly nights preserve their fresh, natural acids. Black and burly, Malbec is perfectly suited to this arid climate, which turns severity in the vineyard into svelte concentration in the glass.