Clos Apalta Vineyard
Storm clouds over recently harvested Carmenere vines at the Clos Apalta vineyard.
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

A select band of producers in Chile and Argentina offer wines acknowledged as the pinnacle of what’s possible in their locations. Yet cult status still has to be earned, says Anthony Rose.

Almost by definition, any wine that has icon status conferred on it by its own producer is not an icon. As Achaval Ferrer’s Julio Lasmartres puts it, the status of icon is ‘not something that you can name by your own judgement, but a recognition which can only be given to you by customers, trade and press’.

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Achaval-Ferrer, Finca Altamira Malbec, Uco Valley, 2013

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Cheval des Andes, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, 2013

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Viña Cobos, Chañares Vineyard Malbec, Uco Valley, Tunuyán

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After cutting his teeth in Argentina at Catena in the late 1980s, Paul Hobbs set up his own winery, Viña Cobos, in Luján de Cuyo....

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Viña CobosUco Valley

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Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, 2014

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A baby, to be sure, with an explosive combination of dark fruit and minerals on the nose. On the palate, the concentrated fruit dominates, but...

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Santa Rita, Casa Real, Alto Jahuel, Maipo Valley, 2013

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Bodega Chacra, Cincuenta y Cinco, Río Negro, Alto Valle

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Locked score

Weighing in at only 12.1% in a light Burgundy bottle with screwcap, Cincuenta y Cinco – so-called because the vines, originating in France, were planted...

2016

PatagoniaArgentina

Bodega ChacraRío Negro

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Zuccardi, Piedra Infinita, Uco Valley, Mendoza, 2013

My wines
Locked score

While Zuccardi has ploughed a historic Malbec furrow in the lower-altitude, higher-volume Santa Rosa region in Mendoza’s east, father and son José and Sebastián decided...

2013

MendozaArgentina

ZuccardiUco Valley

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Anthony Rose
Decanter Magazine, Wine Wwriter & DWWA Judge
Anthony Rose is the wine correspondent of the Independent and i newspapers and contributes to various other publications, among them Decanter Magazine. He was a solicitor in a previous incarnation but decided it was time to get a steady job. He is co-chair of the Decanter World Wine Awards Australia panel and has won a number of awards for wine writing. In 2014 he published The Tapas Bar Guide (Grub Street, £10.99), co-authored with Isabel Cuevas, a guide to tapas bars in the UK. Anthony spends far too much of his time nosing his way around the world in wine competitions, having judged in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, California, Japan, China and France. He is fascinated by Japanese sake and is co-Chairman of the Sake International Challenge in Tokyo and teaches a consumer course at Sake No Hana in London. Anthony is also a published photographer and a founding member of The Wine Gang at ,. Anthony lives in South London and in what spare time he has, he likes to cook, eat and drink the best wines and sakes he can afford on a wine writer’s budget.