Don Cristobal 1492 Malbec 2024

A perfect combination of ripe red fruit character and spice, enhanced by subtle use of French oak barrels. The palate is rich, beefy and almost savoury with lovely length.

Don Cristóbal 1492 was established in 1998 and started its own wine production with the 2001 harvest. It is run by Argentinian Eduardo Lapania with his son Cristobal as CEO and the backing of Belgian family Vandenbalack.

Don Cristobal’s four vineyards are located around Mendoza City; the winery is just 39km to the south of the city. The winery itself is very high tech with modern temperature control facilities, built in 2008 and is located in the El Remanso vineyard at Ugarteche, just off National Route 40. The cellar has a capacity of 2,200,000 litres including epoxy-coated concrete tanks, stainless steel tanks and French and American oak barrels. The estate totals about 200 hectares of which 143 ha are planted with vines over four sites: Finca La Niña; Finca La Pinta; Finca El Remanso; and Finca La Santa Maria.

All harvesting is still done by hand and alongside some outstanding Malbec and Torrontes you will find Verdelho, Viognier and Bonarda making exciting wines. Most of the production is exported; about 85% is destined for foreign markets. Tanners Argentinian Malbec is sourced from their El Niña vineyard near Junín, at 620m above sea level. Hand harvested, it undergoes traditional, spontaneous, temperature controlled fermentation. It sees no oak and is not fined.