2015 Bramare Rebon Vineyard Malbec

Sourced from a young vineyard in La Consulta, the 2015 Bramare Malbec Rebon Estate was produced in a similar fashion as the other single-vineyard Malbecs in the Bramare range: fermented in stainless steel and matured for some 18 months in French oak barrels, 65% of them new. It's riper and more marked by the oak than the Zingaretti but fresher than the Marchiori, which was the ripest. The younger vines do not deliver the same depth and complexity as the older ones. It has good concentration and expression, a little too ripe and oaky but less than in the past. 6,480 bottles were produced in 2015.

(14.9% alcohol; from 17-year-old vines on deep sand-and-loam soil with some granite influence; aged in 62% new French oak): Bright, full ruby. Tight nose hints at blackberry, cassis, espresso and mint. Then surprisingly sweet in the mouth but with lovely salinity and mineral lift that Vignoni says comes from the large rocks in the vineyard. The tannins are substantial but fat and horizontal, spreading out to saturate the palate. I find this a bit youthfully clenched, with some oak in the foreground. Vignoni stressed that this is not a low-yielding site.