Located south of the city of Mendoza, Luján de Cuyo is the heartland of Malbec in Argentina. With 15,500ha under vine, more than half of which is Malbec, it boasts more Malbec vines than the whole of France.
The first Malbec was planted here in 1853 by French ampelographer Michel Aimé Pouget. The Southern French grape adapted perfectly to the local terroir, creating a cultural legacy that endures to the present day.
Thanks to this legacy, Luján de Cuyo boasts some of the oldest vines in Argentina – often planted on their own roots and with a distinctive character that comes from centuries of heritage. Such vines are the treasure of Luján de Cuyo and they are the heart of Trivento’s Golden Reserve Malbec.
The first premium wine created by Trivento, it is sourced from four old Luján de Cuyo vineyards, located in Agrelo, Vistalba, Las Compuertas and Perdriel. The first vintage was released in 2000 – just a few years after Trivento began its operations in Argentina – and chief winemaker, Germán Di Cesare, was involved from the very beginning.
‘I remember the beginnings of Golden very well because it was our first premium wine,’ he says. Only a few hundred cases were produced in that first vintage, but today Trivento makes 60,000 cases, which are exported to markets all over the world, including the UK, the US, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Brazil and Argentina.
Platinum performance
What’s more, the most recent release – Trivento Golden Reserve Malbec 2018 – was awarded 97 points and a Platinum medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards 2020. It’s a glowing testament to both Luján de Cuyo’s old vines and the winemaking skills of the team at Trivento.
‘2018 was a typical Mendoza vintage, with intense and defined fruit expression, concentrated tannins and great structure,’ says Trivento winemaker Magdalena Viani. ‘We had to focus our attention on timing the harvest, and practices inside the winery to bring out the true identity of this grape that the terroir gives to us.’
After fermentation, 95% of the wine was aged for 12 months in French oak barrels and 5% was aged in French oak foudres. The wine spent a further 12 months in bottle before release.
The result is a violet-tinted red with deep aromas. The fresh nose shows red fruit and sweet black cherries, with hints of lavender, balsamic, thyme and black pepper spice. The structured palate has a lovely core of juicy fruit, supported by lively acidity. Although it is drinking beautifully now, due to the quality of the vintage Viani predicts that it also has excellent potential for ageing.
‘It’s not easy to produce a wine with true terroir character at scale in the US$18-22 segment, which is why this award truly makes us proud,’ notes Di Césare. ‘Golden pays homage to the cultural legacy of European immigrants who arrived in Mendoza at the end of the 19th century, the riches of the Luján de Cuyo geography and those Malbec vines planted long ago that have balanced their fruit over the decades.’
For more information visit trivento.com
