Tasting note
Colour - Intense ruby with violet hues.

Aroma - Forward aromas of blackberry, cherry and spice.

Taste - Smooth with hints of chocolate over the ripe, full bramble, plum and cherry fruit with an oaky finish.

	Type:Still Red Wine		Country:Argentina		Appellation:Famatina Valley
	Grape Type:Malbec		Drink Before:End of 2011		Body:Rich and Flavoursome
	Alcohol:14%		Bottle Size:75cl		Bottle Code:60340

Description
"Malbec is Argentina's calling card. Nowhere else in the world, not even in its home territory of south-west France, does Malbec attain the stature it does here" wrote Simon Woods in the FT Weekend. This fabulous, oak-aged Reserva certainly bears this out.

Cahors, in southwest France, was its original home and its wines once stole the limelight from Bordeaux downriver. As a consequence, the Bordelais whopped a heavy tax on the wines of Cahors and nearly put them out of business. At the time, Cahors's wines were popular because they had plentiful untamed tannins that helped preserve the wine as it crossed the waters to its markets abroad. Today, consumers don't want those hard-edges but, in Argentina's warm climate, the tannins are fully ripened and softened to produce these top-class wines which are receiving so much praise.

This rich Reserva is from La Riojana in Gold-Rush Chilecito, a region northwest of the better-known Mendoza. The vines producing the Malbec for this particular wine lie at over 1,000 metres, which ensures a long, slow ripening in the extraordinary quality of sunlight and good health of the grapes. Indeed many are organic, albeit without a certificate; partly because there is simply no need for and partly the growers can't afford the luxury of any pest-preventing sprays! This superb, oak-aged Reserva is named after the Spanish Conquistador, Don Juan Ramirez de Velazco who bought the first vines to Argentina from Peru.

Ramirez de Velazco Oak-Aged Malbec Reserva 2007 is available in the following cases: