2017 Ca’ de Calle Gran Reserva Red Blend, Mendoza, Argentina

91 Points, Wine Advocate

Our aim for this wine is to combine the different facets of Mendoza’s great appellations in a standalone bottling. We source fruit from the best old vine sources in Lujan and some of the best cool-climate fruit in Uco Valley, particularly Altamira and San Carlos.

This is a very labor-intensive wine from vineyard to cellar. All vineyards are farmed without the use of pesticides or herbicides. Weeds are hand-hoed. Then at harvest, fruit is hand-picked, hand sorted, made with gravity flow, and fermented with native yeasts. It is then 100% cellared in fine French and American oak barrels in our underground cellar. Later, as we taste every barrel, we decide our best lots, and an assemblage is made using those best lots. We focus on quality over blend consistency or volume. So each vintage’s blend can be completely different every year.

Tasting Notes

Dark purple color. Forward nose of toasty plums, black cherry, and lilac flowers. On the palate, the wine is rich and full, with layers of berry flavors and a hint of bittersweet chocolate. Finishes soft with balancing acidity.

Specs

• Varietal: Blend (65% Malbec, 12% Petit Verdot, 10% Bonarda, 8% Cab Sauv, 5% Syrah)
• Appellation: Perdriel, La Consulta, and Altamira, Mendoza Argentina
• Elaboration: Hand harvested from top parcels of organically farmed grapes. Carefully sorted. Cellar work using gravity flow. All lots are kept separate until the final blend is determined. Aged 12 months in French oak barrels.
• Alcohol: 14.0%
• TA: 5.2 g/l
• Residual Sugar: 1.2 g/l
• pH: 3.65
• Production: 600 cases
• Winemaker: C. Ermisch and Guillermo Heras

What’s Included

4-bottles:

• 4x 2017 Ca’ de Calle Gran Reserva Red Blend, Mendoza, Argentina
  Case:
• 12x 2017 Ca’ de Calle Gran Reserva Red Blend, Mendoza, Argentina

Price Comparison

$323.88/Case for 12x 2017 Ca’ de Calle Gran Reserva Red Blend, Mendoza, Argentina at Elixir Wine Group

About The Winery

• Winery: Bodega Calle
• Owners: Kirk Ermisch
• Founded: 2001
• Location: Luján de Cuyo, Argentina

At the crossroads of four corners and four historic wineries, Luigi Bosca, Baldini, and Lagarde, Bodega Calle is located on their southwest corner. A small-lot, gravity-flow, red wine-making studio located in the prized viticultural area of Luján de Cuyo, our winery was opened in 2001 in the restored Claudio Erice winery, originally built in 1925.

The winery concentrates on varietal wines and premium red blends sourced from viticultural areas throughout Luján and Valle de Uco. All wines are made with the use of gravity and are never pumped to deliver the grapes to the fermentation tanks. All grapes are farmed without the use of herbicides or pesticides, are hand-picked and sorted, and vinified using native yeasts, which results in a more gradual fermentation curve and less intervention with refrigeration. Bodega Calle is a certified organic winery and the wines are GMO-free and vegan. Also, the winery recently joined the DOC of Luján de Cuyo, the 5th winery ever to be admitted. Kirk Ermisch is its principal owner and general manager.

Available States

AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY

Estimated Delivery

Friday, Mar 14 - Monday, Mar 17

How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2017 Ca’ de Calle Gran Reserva Red Blend - $50 = 23.80%

The mystery bottle (Ca ’de Calle 2017) arrived on Wednesday and I resisted opening it until Friday. The blend looked very interesting per the label, i.e. Malbec 60%, CS 15%, CF 15%, Tempranillo 7% and Syrah 3%. The label says 14% ABV, as well as being aged for 12 months in French oak barrels. As a Gran Reserve it has to be aged for at least 5 years with two years in oak barrels.

Since malbec is a very versatile wine, what better foods to have with it than left-overs. So, for dinner we had meat loaf, rigatoni with a sauce made of heavy cream, sun-dried tomatoes, portabello’s, parm and spinach, and a salad with blue cheese dressing. Bite sized dark chocolate was “dessert.”

Upon PnP, the color has a cranberry base, with a little lightness on the edges and long legs on the swirl. Minimal aromas come from a large, standard red wine glass, but +1 and picked up some vanilla and plum. Initial flavors included plum, blackberry and dark cherry, but they were soft. The tannins were soft. Additionally, the fruit had a brightness and tartness which would seem to have indicated that this was a younger bottle of wine, and not one that was 6 - 7 years old. Every part of the dinner went well with this wine. We capped the bottle for the night and revisited it this morning (don’t judge me since I was doing it for science).

Today the fruit has more complexity and the tartness has dissipated. This is a much more interesting wine on the second day. I had mixed feelings about it yesterday and was thinking that more time in the bottle would help it develop. Now I am thinking that you could open it and decant it for several hours or cellar it for perhaps 3, 4 or 5 years. At the price point offered, there is little risk in picking this up.

Interesting, the two rat bottles labels state different blends

Seems that there are two blends. So which do get if you buy?

@Winedavid49 @rjquillin
I think I’m winning my bet