VARIETY: 100% Malbec
HARVEST: Manual
TIME IN BOTTLE: 4 months
TIME IN BARREL: 8 months
TYPE OF BARREL: French
Vineyards:
The grapes of Famiglia Organic Malbec come from three different vineyards: Finca Doña Elsa, located in Rama Caída District, Finca Asti placed in Las Paredes District and Finca Constanza situated in Cuadro Benegas District. These vineyards are certified as organic vineyards.
Tastin Notes:
Due to its excellent maturity, this Malbec presents an intense, deep colour, with very attractive purple tones. Its aromatic expression is very intense and fresh, where the classical red and black fruits stand out together with certain spicy notes blended with very subtle vanilla notes, in the exact proportion. It feels sweet initially in the mouth, with round tannins, balanced acidity and hints of red fruits, medium structure and hearty on the palate conferring an elegant finish.
More information:
The grapes of Famiglia Organic Malbec come from three different vineyards: Finca Doña Elsa, located in Rama Caída District, Finca Asti placed in Las Paredes District and Finca Constanza situated in Cuadro Benegas District. These vineyards are certified as organic vineyards. This wine constitutes a real blend of Malbec grapes from different plots of land in San Rafael Department, with soils of variable composition, with a diversity of microclimates which allow us to obtain a very good complexity not only in aromas but in flavours as well. Soils of alluvial origin where our know-how about the soil profiles of our vineyards has allowed us to distinguish the different parcels specifically suitable for this malbec, some of them with a large presence of boulder, as in Doña Elsa, with calcareous sediments which confer some mineral notes to the wine, and then combined with the red fruits and delicate tannins coming from a deeper soil in Finca Constanza and from some lots in Finca Asti, soils poor in organic matter. In the soil pits it could be noticed how the roots explore through the different sized rocks and on the sand searching for water and nutrients, also absorving the calcareous compounds that will transfer the mineral notes to this wine. The selected parcels have been chosen specifically for this wine considering its vegetative expression, yield of grapes per plant and through wine tasting performed by our enologists prior to harvesting. As all these characteristics have remained constant during several consecutive years, it was decided its implementation to elaborate Famiglia Organic Malbec. For this reason, specific agricultural practices are carried out to secure an absolute organic handling in order to obtain excellent quality raw material; in other words, technical handling of weeds and agricultural practices such as uprooting, grape clusters thinning, and, only if necessary, a slight defoliation. Additionally, another relevant feature is the purity of the water used for irrigation, which comes to the vineyards through the Diamante River in rotation turns. The water is received in dams located in strategic zones in each vineyard. Depending on the estate, the irrigation applied can be the traditional furrow irrigation system or the drip irrigation system.
FERMENTATION PROCESS:
Harvesting begins when the grape ripeness is the adequate for this level of wines, where the acidity, the sugar and the polyphenols find their perfect balance. The exact moment is determined through wine tasting by our enology team. A first selection of grape clusters is made directly at the time of the harvesting. Once the grapes are received, the elaboration process begins with a new grape selection to remove the remaining clusters which may present some damage and then they are carefully destemmed, thus obtaining perfect whole berries. These berries are carefully selected and placed directly in stainless steel tanks. Once in the tanks, a cold maceration at 8°C begins, lasting 3 days. During this period we proceed to gently extract the greatest concentration of colour and tannins as possible, said process at that precise moment is called an extraction because it is made when there is no alcohol in the medium. Once completed, selected yeasts specifically used for organic wine elaboration are introduced in order to begin the fermentation process where the temperature is thoroughly controlled, reaching a peak of 30°C, then lowering it and maintaining it at approximately 27°C. Pump-overs are mainly performed during the fermentation process and, depending on the daily tasting from the tanks we can plan some delestage, but only in the initial stages of the fermentation. Once this fermentation process is completed, the wine remains in contact with the grape marc for approximately 5 additional days, assessed by daily wine tasting. Once the post-fermentative maceration has finished, 50% of the wine is placed in French oak barrels for an average time of 8 months. The remaining 50% of the wine continues in the stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature during 8 months. It is worth remarking that 100% of the volume presents a malolactic fermentation by means of indigenous bacteria. The precise moment for the balance between fruit and wood is determined by wine tasting, and at that moment the wine aged in barrels and the wine preserved as fruit reserve in the tanks are blended. In this way it is possible to get the freshness and great presence of red fruits so characteristic in this varietal. Once the final wine is obtained, without clarification and with a thick filtering, it is bottled and stored in our wine cellars for at least 4 months.