Vina Cobos, Cobos Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina, 2019

Producer Profile

In 1989, Paul Hobbs visited Mendoza for the first time. Driving over the Andes from Chile with his longstanding friend Jorge Catena, brother of the famous Nicolas Catena, he fell in love with the place, the people, but also with the potential to make great wine.

He began experimenting with wild fermented Chardonnay and then with the variety that would become Argentina's calling card - Malbec. His first 10 barrel vintage of Malbec persuaded the American press of the potential of this grape. Paul established his own winery, Viña Cobos, in 1999 and 20 years later, Paul continues to make wines that are authentic expressions of the terroir from which they come. In an exploration of the different terroirs across Mendoza Paul looks for the most distinguished regions in Luján de Cuyo and Valle de Uco to produce wines that uniquely express their origins. The winery’s elegant and balanced wines are a result of meticulous vineyard farming and utmost respect for terroir.

Viticulture

A vine and cluster selection of only the highest quality malbec fruit from their top estates.

Winemaking

Aged for 18 months in new French Taransaud oak and bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Oak Ageing

Time: 18 Months
Type: French Taransaud
% wine oaked: 100
% new oak: 100

Tasting Note

Deep violet red colour with black tones. In nose, it is complex, combining black fruit, spices and graphite. With highlights of blue fruits and Andean herbs such as jarilla and wild thyme. In the mouth it presents an elegant entrance, with tannins, velvety and long finish.

Food Matching

Roast pork, lean red meat; sirloin and skirt steaks.

Awards

James Suckling 100 Points
A compact and polished Cobos with lots of dark fruit, as well as green olives, flowers and stems. Raspberries and forest fruit, too. Full-bodied, very tight and compressed. Melted tannins give great presence and mouth-feel, but the feeling is that they are invisible. It goes on for minutes. Sensational. So sophisticated and thoughtful. An archetypal malbec from Argentina. Better after 2027. 100 Points, JS, March 2022.
Wine Spectator 95 Points
Perfumed with plumeria and grilled rosemary notes, this elegant red is teeming with thyme-laced wild berry flavors, showing tremendous vibrancy and persistence around suave tannins. Very drinkable right now, but this should hold for longer. Drink now through 2040. 95 Points, AR, November 2024.