Bodega Renacer Punto Final Malbec Reserva 2019

Produced organically from vines more than 50 years of age and presenting itself in a regal violet robe while offering heady aromatics, the 2019 Bodega Renacer Punto Final Malbec Reserva (93 Points – Tim Atkin; 90 Points – Descorchados) had us from the very first encounter. Enchanting scents of blueberry, strawberry, and woodland violets mingled with light earthy and spice tones greet the nose. The wine’s berry flavors and heady aromatics carry through to the mouth where they flow on fine-grained tannins. As an added delight, chocolate and roasted coffee tones emerge with aeration to complement the wine’s juicy fruit and floral tones. Elegant, yet full of flavor, the 2019 Bodega Renacer Punto Final Malbec Reserva reminds us of the finest Malbec wines of Cahors, the original Malbec of southwest France. Aged for ten months in French barriques and bottled unfiltered, this organically produced vegan-friendly Malbec combines the best of New World and Old World Malbec, making it fascinating and hard to resist. For optimal enjoyment, we strongly suggest affording the delectable 2019 Bodega Renacer Punto Final Malbec Reserva 30 minutes of aeration prior to serving at cool room temperature (58°-62° F). Anticipated maturity: 2023-2027. Enjoy!

Argentina is renowned for its high quality meats, especially beef, so it should come as no surprise that Bodega Renacer’s 2019 Punto Final Malbec Reserva provides a wonderful companion to steak, roasts, and poultry. Roast Colorado Rack of Lamb served with potato gnocchi, pearl onions, and mushrooms; and Sous Vide Duck Breast served with a blackberry reduction over wild rice make truly tasty partners. Grilled sausages, spicy and full of flavor, also warrant two thumbs up. However, lighter meats make equally fine companions. Veal Medallions wrapped with prosciutto ham is a perennial favorite. Vegetable lasagna and rich, heady pasta dishes made with vine ripened tomatoes, garlic, and plenty of basil, oregano, and spices in the company of thick slices of crusty Italian bread and plenty of freshly grated Parmesan cheese provide equally compelling companions to the delicious 2019 Renacer Punto Final Malbec Reserva. Buon Provecho!

Bodega Renacer was founded by Patricio Reich in 2003. In collaboration with the highly acclaimed and award winning winemaker Lucas Amoretti, Bodegas Renacer fashions an enviable portfolio of outstanding varietal wines from Mendoza’s finest vineyards and terroirs. Located in Perdriel in sight of the towering Andes where the soil, climate, altitude, and availability of water provide the ideal environment for the cultivation of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec, Bodegas Renacer’s wines are rendered pure and natural tasting, vegan certified, and certified organic as of 2021. The estate has a total of 100 acres of vines under cultivation in Perdriel and draws additional grapes from select Mendoza vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo, Medrano, and the Uco Valley.

Patricio Reich has combined his longstanding passion for wine with his extensive business and industrial engineering experience in creating Bodega Renacer. Patricio has worked for the World Bank, been an executive for the Santiago Chamber of Commerce in his native Chile, and constructed an incredible state of the art winery at Bodegas Renacer where the bodega’s wines are carefully crafted after a double culling and selection process. The estate’s Punto Final Reserva wines, including this month’s feature (the 2019 Renacer Punto Final Malbec Reserva) offer extraordinary quality as well as value, and they regularly garner international acclaim from Tim Atkin, James Suckling, Vinous, Wine Spectator, and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

Without the towering Andes, there would be no cultivation of the vine in Mendoza and no real agriculture as we know it, nor would viticulture thrive in the river valleys of central Chile, which lie just across the Andean spine or Cordillera from Mendoza – a mere one hundred miles as the condor flies but a torturous eight-hour adventure by car. Simply, it is the Andes that give life to the desert-like Mendoza and the arid rift valleys of Chile. Specifically, it is Andean snows that accumulate upon the higher elevations of the Andes that give life and sustenance to these parched parcels of South America that yield the continent’s finest wines.

In order to make the desert bloom, the inhabitants of the Andes have come to rely on their mighty mountains for water. By sluicing off the Andean snow melt and directing its waters into canals, much of Argentina and Chile are now productive farmland and especially suited to the cultivation of the vine. Since the Italian migration to Argentina in the 19th century and subsequent settlement in the Illinois sized province of Mendoza, the Mighty Mendoza has become the largest wine producing area in South America, pushing Argentina to fifth among the world’s leading wine producing nations, just behind the United States. Without the Andes, there would be no wine or much else to speak of from Mendoza. Viva Los Andes!