Reserve Malbec

2022 Argentina Mendoza
90 Points

A smart use of oak barrels adds baking spices to the profile of this Malbec while preserving freshness. It has aromas of cinnamon and black fruit. The palate is full of ripe plum and mulberry flavors that extend into the aftertaste along with sweet spices. Palm Bay International. —J.V

Wine Enthusiast April 2024

Reserve Malbec

2021 Argentina Mendoza
90 Points

The 2021 Malbec Salentein Reserve is a blend of grapes from Los Árboles and Paraje Altamira, Uco Valley and was aged for 12 months in used French (30%) and American (70%) barrels. Purple in the glass. The no-nonsense nose offers notes of ripe red fruit with a little fresh plum and hints of spice. It’s voluminous in the mouth with polished tannins and fruity flavor enlivened by the precise freshness. A rewarding wine. -J.H.

Vinous September 2022

Reserve Malbec

2019 Argentina Mendoza
89 Points

Focused and zesty, with brambly flavors filled with fresh acidity and cedary notes. Flinty hints on the finish are filledwith underbrush accents. Drink now through 2023. 120,000 cases made, 20,000 cases imported.

Smart Buys Award
Wine Spectator September 2021
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2018 Argentina Mendoza
90 Points

An Uco Valley Malbec made from vines grown at different altitudes and aged for 12 months in used barrels. Typically for the region, it is bright purple in color, with a nose of fresh plums, red currants, herbs and secondary woody notes. Slightly reductive and easygoing in the mouth, with fine-grained tannins and juicy acidity in a bold but delicious combo for a table wine.

Vinous October 2020
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2017 Argentina Mendoza
90 Points

Bright ruby-red. Pungent scents of cassis, blueberry and violet, plus a whiff of bitter chocolate. Plush, densely packed, very youthful wine with a restrained sweetness and excellent intensity and vinosity. Sexy dark chocolate and tobacco notes add interest to the dark fruit and spicy oak flavors, with harmonious balancing acidity keeping the wine fresh. Finishes with firm but suave tannins and subtle rising length. Still a bit reticent, this will be better in a year.

Vinous September 2019
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2017 Argentina Mendoza
94 Points

This may be a fraction of the price of Salentein's Primum Malbec (also recommended here), but it's just as good, in a completely different style. There's no spicy oak or tobacco-scented tannins boosting the fruit here; instead, it's just pure, fresh, floral malbec, purple and bright. Herbal notes add a cool spice, giving it a vibrant Andean feel.

Wine & Spirits October 2019
Best Buy

Reserve Malbec

2017 Argentina Mendoza
92 Points

This offers some ripe dark-berry and plum aromas with an edge of black tea and crushed purple flowers. The palate has a super smooth, juicy and flavorful core of smooth tannins, carrying dark-cherry and plum flavors. Drink in the next four to six years.

JamesSuckling.com March 27, 2019
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2016 Argentina Mendoza
90 Points

Cropped from a cool, wet and low-yielding year for the variety, the 2016 Reserva Malbec was produced with grapes from their vineyards in Valle de Uco. It fermented in stainless steel vats and matured in French oak barrels for 12 months. It's riper and more concentrated than the Cabernet Sauvignon, but it's still atypical and has moderate alcohol and good acidity. It has soft, fine-grained tannins with a pleasant texture and a dry finish. They produced no less than 1,440,000 bottles of this cuvée. Very impressive quality for the volume.

Wine Advocate June 29, 2018
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2015 Argentina Mendoza
92 Points

Bright ruby-red. Pungent scents of blueberry, violet and herbs. Densely packed, vibrant and sharply delineated, conveying superb inner-mouth energy and a resiny complexity to its concentrated dark berry, blueberry and violet flavors. There's a sweetness here and a pliancy to the sophisticated tannins that give this wine much more early appeal than the Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve but I'd still hold this for another year or two before pulling the cork. Finishes with compelling lingering perfume.

Vinous July 2017
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2014 Argentina Mendoza
89 Points

Aromas of herbs and desert brush blend with raisiny berry scents. This feels grabby and tannic, while jammy, herbal berry flavors flatten out with airing. A loamy tasting finish loses some intensity and spirit as this settles.

Wine Enthusiast February 2017

Reserve Malbec

2015 Argentina Mendoza
90 Points

The first of six Malbecs I tasted was the 2015 Malbec Reserva, which is also labelled Reserve Malbec and as Barrel Selection in Europe Barrel. It is produced with grapes grown at their El Oasis and La Pampa vineyards in Valle de Uco that fermented destemmed in stainless steel vats and matured in oak barrels for 12 months. This is a very aromatic, floral and showy Malbec, very fruit-driven, where they search for freshness and use mostly neutral barrels trying to show the character of the Valle de Uco. The palate is silky, with a fine texture and sweet, round tannins, very fresh, even with a minty nose. They produce over one million bottles of this wine in multiple bottling lots from the same blend.

Wine Advocate December 30, 2016
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2013 Argentina Mendoza
90 Points

Earthy black-fruit and spice aromas are clean and welcoming, while there is potent and full of life on the palate. Black cherry, coffee and chocolate flavors are intense and finish with a notable amount of minty menthol character. Drink through 2019.

Wine Enthusiast April 2016
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2013 Argentina Mendoza
89 Points

Bright red-ruby. Reduced aromas of blackberry, black cherry and game show a Syrah-like quality. Sweet, savory and fine-grained; nicely ripe, plump and full, with dark fruit flavors accompanied by complementary oak. Deeper and riper than the 2012 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, finishing with lovely sweetness, well-buffered tannins and very good length.

Vinous February 2015

Reserve Malbec

2013 Argentina Mendoza
92 Points

This is a vibrantly fresh and crisp interpretation of malbec from the height of the Uco Valley. Rather than impressing with super concentration and barrel notes, it excels in its purity, the focus on fruit, delicate and multi-hued.

Wine & Spirits February 2015
Best Buy

Reserve Malbec

2012 Argentina Mendoza
92 Points

As juicy as can be, this presents malbec pure and unadorned, from the aromas of violets to the peppery-cherry flavors and a texture so soft and gentle it's hard not to take another sip. The bonus here is the wine's depth of flavor and earthy notes that emerge on the finish, intimating that this is more profound than it initially seems.

Wine & Spirits February 2015
Best Buy

Reserve Malbec

2012 Argentina Mendoza
90 Points

An opening of dense berry aromas along with coconut, cedar and tobacco announce an energetic palate of ripe blackberry and cassis flavors. There?s framework and acidity on the finish as well as black licorice and toasty darkness to ponder. Drink through 2018.

Wine Enthusiast October 2014
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2011 Argentina Mendoza
89 Points

Plum and berry aromas are expressive and a touch gritty. This Malbec feels round and medium to full in body, with present but controlled tannins. Oak, lactic notes and black-fruit flavors finish minty and with natural herbal hints along with healthy, bracing acidity.

Wine Enthusiast July 2014

Reserve Malbec

2012 Argentina Mendoza
91 Points

Beaneath the flavors of blackberries and black cherries, there's a base of tannins that feels firm and tense, ready to take on an Argentine assado, or to age at least five years in bottle. This is juicy and accessible, a refreshing take on modern malbec and one of the finest examples of the style in Mendoza.

Wine & Spirits June 2014
Platinum

Reserve Malbec

2012 Argentina Mendoza
89 Points

The 2012 Reserve Malbec, a selection of grapes from different elevations that saw 12 months of barrel aging, shows fresh fruit along with notes of blood orange and cranberries. It is pleasurable, balanced and fresh, with good acidity. This is good value.

Wine Advocate May 2014