Michelini i Mufatto Malbec ”La Cautiva La Cuni”
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Malbec from the 0.6-hectare La Cuni parcel of the La Cautiva vineyard in Gualtallary, Uco Valley, at 1,520 meters above sea level, on shallow sand over calcium carbonate, granite and calcareous sand.
- A single-parcel wine from low yields.
- Organically farmed vineyard.
Varietal: 100% Malbec
Elaboration: About 40% of the fruit ferments as whole clusters. The wine macerates for 30 days after fermentation, then ages 24 months in foudres.
Tasting Notes: The palest, most mineral and most complex wine of the La Cautiva line. Long aging potential.
PRESS
2022 – 95+ Wine Advocate | 96 James Suckling | 96 Vinous | 94 Tim Atkins
2023 – 96 James Suckling | 2024 – 98 James Suckling
PRODUCER BACKGROUND
Michelini i Mufatto is a family winery in Gualtallary, high in Argentina’s Uco Valley, built around a single organically farmed vineyard — Agrícola La Cautiva — at 1,550 meters in thin granite and limestone soils. Wines ferment in concrete and age in used barrels and foudres, with each soil-defined parcel vinified separately. The whites draw on old vines, including a 120-year-old Semillon block and a Chenin Blanc vineyard planted in 1970.
Before this project, Gerardo Michelini helped establish Zorzal with his brothers, one of the wineries credited with putting Gualtallary’s high-altitude terroir on the map. He came to wine through architecture and banking, and now runs Michelini i Mufatto with his wife, Andrea Mufatto, and their son, Manu. The family also makes wine in Bierzo, Spain.