Highlights: Cara Sur Moscatel Tinto
This is such an interesting wine. It’s made in tiny quantities by a partnership of two couples: Sebastián Zuccardi and Marcela Manini (from Mendoza) and Nuria Año Gargiulo and Pancho Burgallo from the Calingasta Valley of San Juan. They make wine from an old Parral-trained vineyard at 1500 m altitude: Finca Maggio, planted in 1950 on alluvial soils. The variety here is Mosctatel Tinto (or Muscatel Negro), which I think might be similar to Moscatel Roxo in Portugal (I’ll have to research this). Fermentation is 30% whole clusters, and after 20 days the wine is pressed and aged for eight months in concrete with the lees, and is then bottles unfined and unfiltered.
Cara Sur Moscatel Tinto Finca Maggio 2019 Valle de Calingasta, San Juan, Argentina
14% alcohol. Pale cherry red in colour, this is fresh and fine with notes of Campari, raspberries, red cherries and redcurrants. It has a brightness, a lightness and a fine spicy crunch on the finish. So delicious and refined, with massive drinkability, but also some elegance and savouriness. It’s a brilliant wine: it’s not mainstream but it’s so lovely. 94/100 (Importer: Las Bodegas. £24.95 Vinoteca)
