Cheval des Andes 2018

Scores

98 / 100

"The 2018 Cheval des Andes is a blend of 70% Malbec and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon fermented in small lots in 3,000- to 8,000-liter tanks and matured 40% in 225-liter oak barrels, 40% in 400-liter oak barrels and the remaining 20% in 2,500-liter oak vats for 13 months. Ninety percent of the oak used was French and the rest a blend of Austrian, Slovenian and German oak, 50% of it new. 2018 has been one of the best vintages in recent times in Mendoza, and the wine shows it. It's a cooler vintage, and the wine has improved in freshness and elegance without losing any clout. It's 14.5% alcohol and has a pH of 3.73. This is young, juicy, elegant and balanced and still has some herbal and toasted notes; it's medium to full-bodied, with the creamy and luxurious texture of the modern Bordeaux, ultra fine tannins and a long, dry and precise finish. It's still undeveloped and seems to have all the components and the balance between them for a long and positive development in bottle. With wines like this, I sometimes wish I had a time machine so I could see them in 20 years from now... I think this is the finest Cheval des Andes I've ever tasted. 100,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2020."
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

98 / 100

"Blueberries, blueberry compote, cinnamon and cloves, subtle notes of wood. The palate is viscous and filled with a large amount of mellow tannins, impeccable, everything is in the right place, a ripe acidity underlines the potent, rich construction. A distinguished blueprint of Cheval Blanc. Wait at least another 5 years, or better yet, 15."
- Falstaff

96 / 100

"Cheval des Andes has been making this wine since the 1999 vintage, and it has always been a blend based on malbec and cabernet sauvignon. The primary source of the grapes is Las Compuertas, on the northern bank of the Mendoza River, a classic zone for Mendozan malbec, which makes up 65% of the wine here, while the rest comes from Altamira, in the southern Uco Valley. This year it's 70% malbec (half from Altamira and half from Las Compuertas) and 30% cabernet sauvignon from Las Compuertas. Most of it was aged for about a year in 225- and 400-liter barrels, and another 20% in foudres. This wine has been mutating since 2014, when the freshness and fruity flavors began to emerge with greater clarity over the excesses of concentration and oak of the past. This version continues in that direction in a wine that's radiant in ripe red fruits, herbs, and a layer of tannins that's both very smooth and very tense. It has great elegance, great depth of flavors, and just the right amount of acidity so that they not only refresh but also project across the palate. Altamira and its firm tannins, its reddest fruits (they're mountain grapes after all), seem to gain prominence. A very good vintage of this modern classic of Argentine wine."
- Patricio Tapia

Tasting Notes