2014 Viña Alicia Brote Negro Luján de Cuyo
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Tasting notes
Tons of licorice character here, which is unusual for malbec, but also plenty of ripe plums and bitter chocolate, making this a generous, slightly sweet malbec with just enough healthy tannin to balance. Drink now.
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Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
In addition to the 2013 vintage, I also tasted the exceptional 2014 Brote Negro, the following vintage of this wine to be sold in some months. Trying to improve the wine in this vintage, they did a stricter selection of the grapes and produced a smaller quantity. So, a super selection of grapes resulted in some 1,200 bottles of their top cuvée. The result is a more aromatic and floral red, with a velvety texture, more elegance and very good freshness, even after the cooler 2013. It feels that, even if the vintage was not easy and there seems to be higher ripeness here, the result was worth the selection. It was bottled at the end of 2015.
(14.5% alcohol): Bright ruby-red. Sexy, high-pitched scents of blackberry, violet, lavender and licorice pastille, plus a hint of roasted fruits. Broad, dry and rich, conveying sexy sweetness and terrific depth to the fine-grained middle palate. This is very ripe too but harmonious acidity gives it very good delineation. Plush and classy Malbec.