Not every occasion calls for a wine of profound dimension, impeccable authority and unimpeachable character, but when that kind of wine is what you’re hankering for, turn to Viña Alicia. This tiny property in the Lujan de Cuyo area of Argentina’s Mendoza region turns out about 1,500 (six-bottle) cases of almost completely red wine – they just introduced a white wine – of amazing purity and intensity. The wines are not cheap, priced at $60 or $80, and they’re produced in teeny-weeny amounts, but if you’re looking for a wine experience akin to taking a chariot ride with Bacchus and all his pards, these are the wines to count on.
Viña Alicia is owned and worked by Alicia Arizu and her son Rodrigo; her husband Alberto and the couple’s other sons, Alberto and Gustavo, run the property Luigi Bosca, where they make fine examples of more moderately priced and widely available wines. The entire process at Viña Alicia, from farming the vineyards to bottling the wine, is undertaken with the utmost thoughtfulness and care. No chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides are used, and the oak regimen is very deliberate.
In addition to launching a white wine, Viña Alicia offers a second label, Paso de Piedra Reserva, to sell at half the price of its primary line. The Paso de Piedra Reserva wines – a malbec and a cabernet sauvignon – are made in larger quantities, that is to say, fewer than 900 six-bottle cases together for 2005. For Viña Alicia, that’s getting up to Gallo production figures.
If you had the inclination and the fiduciary prowess to purchase a case of the Viña Alicia wines, I would recommend this scheme: Two bottles of the white wine; one of the Paso de Piedra Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon and one of the Paso de Piedra Reserva Malbec; two bottles of the Morena Cabernet Sauvignon; two bottles of the malbec; one the the syrah; and one each of the top-of-the-line wines, the Brote Negro Malbec, the Nebbiolo and the Cuarzo Petit Verdot.
If you were going to buy only one bottle of a Viña Alicia wine to see what's up with the winery, make it the Brote Negro Malbec 2004. It will tell you everything you need to know about the Arizu family's philosophy, talent and integrity.
Viña Alicia
White Wine 2005
Riesling 50%, albariño 30%, savagnin 20%
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $30
Excellent
Viña Alicia’s White 2005 represents one of the most individual white blends I have seen in 23 years of writing about wine. Highly unusual is the presence of the savagnin (not sauvignon) grape, rarely seen outside of its natural homeland in the hillside vineyards of France’s Jura region, where it is made into Vin Jaune, a wine aged six years and three months in cask before release; its dry, nutty, yeasty character resembles fino sherry. Anyway, there’s nothing sherry-like about this lovely, crisp, vibrant yet lush white wine that teems with notes of almond and orange blossom, peach and roasted lemon, pear and limestone. Did I write “crisp”? Whatever lushness is here cannot conceal a backbone of acid so vivid that it feels electrified. The finish is dry, spicy, steely and a little austere. Now through 2009 or '10 (well-stored).
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va.
Viña Alicia
Paso de Piedra Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
100% cabernet sauvignon
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $30
Excellent
The color is deep, dense ruby; the bouquet delivers penetrating aromas of creme de cassis, black raspberry and black cherry permeated by licorice, dried flowers and smoke. In the mouth, minerals with an edge of charcoal take over, walnut shell and underbrush, palate-coating tannins, all encompassing a luscious yet dry core of bittersweet chocolate-covered currants and raspberries. The finish is long, dry and austere. The wine was fermented in large oak casks and then aged in barrels for six months. Now (with a grilled t-bone steak) through 2012 or ‘15. 354 six-bottle cases.
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va.
Viña Alicia
Paso de Piedra Reserva Malbec 2005
100% malbec
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $30
Excellent
Thinking that Argentina’s reputation for what is obviously the country’s favorite grape is over-rated? Try this compelling example and change your mind. The wine is robust but not rustic, huge in structure without being monolithic. Black currant and black cherry notes burst from the glass in a welter of wild blueberry, dried spice and fruit cake. One sip convinces you that most malbec wines simply can’t stand up to this one in terms of purity and intensity; it’s large-framed and deep, revealing tremendous backbone and grip and lip-smacking tannins that cushion incredibly flavorful strains of cassis, black raspberry and plum. Whip-lash acid keeps it jazzed. This aged six months, 90 percent in French foudres – an imprecise term but definitely a large oak container – and 10 percent in standard barrels. The point is that neither this wine nor the others in the Viña Alicia roster are dominated by wood. Now through 2012 or ‘15. 537 six-bottle cases.
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va.
Viña Alicia
Morena Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
Cabernet sauvignon 85%, cabernet franc 13%, merlot 2%
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $60
Excellent
Piercing purity and intensity bring boldly ripe cassis, raspberry and plum scents and flavors permeated by pinpoint lead pencil, cedar and tobacco notes, all enlivened by a scintillating mineral element. Whole boxes of dried spice and potpourri have gone into each bottle, etching gorgeous fruit with intricate detail, while dense, dusty tannins and bell-tone acid provide a hefty yet vibrant structure. The finish, no surprise, is long, deep, dry and austere. Best from 2008 or ‘09 through 2014 or ‘16. Production is 100 six-bottle cases.
The label pictured here says "2002," but it's the 2003 under consideration here.
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va.
Viña Alicia
Malbec 2003
100% malbec
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $60
Excellent
The bouquet is characterized by pungent and scintillating earthiness and minerality. Black currant and blueberry flavors are permeated by pepper and cloves, briers and brambles and the sort of rooty, spicy, floral tea that monks would brew to cure a cold. Layers of fruitcake, wheat-meal and dried porcini are seamlessly integrated with polished oak and burnished tannins for an effect that carefully balances elegance with rusticity; malbec, above all, should never lose a touch of wildness. Wondering what all the hoopla is about Argentina’s vaunted malbecs? Here’s the evidence. Best from 2008 or ‘09 through 2014 or ‘16. Production is 100 six-bottle cases.
The label pictured here says "2002," but it's the 2003 under consideration here.
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va.
Viña Alicia
Syrah 2004
100% syrah
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $60
Excellent
Here’s an amazingly fresh, clean, bright and pure syrah, deep and dark, vibrant, rich and spicy, almost laden with spice with what the word “laden” implies in weightiness except that the wine somehow isn’t heavy at all; it’s exquisitely balanced, almost balletic. Flavors are black currant and blackberry with touches of plum and wild berry; the wine is rich and warm, ripe and fleshy, laced with leather and violets, licorice and lavender, braced with dusty, chewy tannins and polished oak from no more than 12 months in cask. Now through 2012 or ‘14. Production is 75 six-bottle cases.
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va.
Viña Alicia
Brote Negro 2004
100% malbec
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $80
Exceptional
I’m about to expend my account of “amazings” here, because Viña Alicia’s Brote Negro 2004, made from a mutant of malbec grapes from 115-year-old vines, is amazing in every sense. As is the case with most of Viña Alicia’s wines, the Brote Negro 2004 makes an immediately rich, warm and appealing presentation, but that impression is quickly followed by a tremendous hit of minerals, earth and underbrush that mark the wine’s structure from top to seemingly fathomless depths. It’s a wine of remarkable presence and resonance, the kind of wine for which the term “character” was invented. Don’t worry, it doesn’t neglect fruit in the form of amazingly – sorry – pure and vibrant black currant, blueberry and blackberry flavors, seemingly macerated and roasted to extract every molecule of intensity. Beyond reproach. Best from 2009 or ‘10 through 2015 to ‘20. Production is 40 six-bottle cases.
The label says "2003," but it's the 2004 under consideration here.
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va.
Viña Alicia
Nebbiolo 2004
100% nebbiolo
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $80
Excellent
The grape that makes those monuments of Piedmontese wines, Barolo and Barbaresco, is here turned into a stew of tar and spice, macerated and roasted currant and black cherry flavors edged with dried fruit and bitter chocolate and fruitcake steeped in port; the elements of smoke and minerals alone could fill pages of description. The wine spends a “short time” in French with some American oak, which seems the proper course to provide firmness yet allow the grape to express itself with such stirring eloquence. Best from 2010 through 2015 to ‘20. Production is 50 six-bottle cases.
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va
Viña Alicia
Cuarzo 2004
100% petit verdot
Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
About $80
Exceptional
Purple in every sense, this incredibly deep, dark intense wine seems to pay homage to every strata of earth and minerals upon which its vineyard rests. It’s thick, dense, chewy, almost gritty, displaying heaps of smoke and ash and smoldering potpourri, black currant marmalade and blackberry jam with a sort of hot jelly undertone and a strain of wild berry. The tannic and oaken structure – the wine spends 10 months in cask – is firm yet finely-grained and plush. Best from 2008 or ‘09 through 2015 to ‘18. Great winemaking. Production is a whopping 166 six-bottle cases.
William-Harrison Imports, Manassas, Va.
