Las Cruces Malbec 2021

From the 4th-generation De Martino family, Las Cruces shows what finesse, elegance, power and richness can be achieved in Chile's best sites. The family left Italy for South America in 1934 and made the Cachapoal Valley their home. They now have the largest holdings of organic vineyards in Chile, so their wines can show a sense of "place, purity and balance". Las Cruces comes from a vineyard planted in 1956, still on its original rootstock thanks to granite and sand soils (the root-munching phylloxera beetle doesn't like sand!). The nearby Cachapoal river channels cooling ocean winds up to the vines, so the grapes only ripen slowly. Whole bunch fermentation with wild yeasts and two years' ageing in barrel, this is a wine to savour.