Kaiken Malbec Indomito 2019

The glorious Lujan de Cuyo is a wine-centric town just outside of Mendoza, in the foothills of the Andes mountain range – one of the best spots to grow Malbec in the entire world – this is one to savor! 96 POINTS for under $30 is a recipe for success, especially when you have a Chilean legend like Aurelio Montes (Viña Montes) cooking!

Kaikén is a relatively new project, named for the locally revered Caiquén geese that migrate from Chile to Argentina every year, crossing over the indomitable Andes mountains. Whilst searching for his next new project, legendary vintner Aurelio Montes felt a certain kinship with those geese, as he too was crossing that route over the Andes repeatedly. He eventually settled on a vineyard, situated at over 3,900 feet in Argentina’s Altamira portion of the Uco Valley. Kaikén’s vineyard was planted in 2005 and these vines are simply thriving!

True to his style at Viña Montes, although with a bit more Bordeaux-like structure, this wine is ROCKING, with huge aromatics of crushed violets and rose petals, lavender pastilles, crushed blackberries, summer strawberries, shaved chocolate, anise pods, espresso, vanilla bean, and pie crust…rich and fresh and just percolating with deliciousness. WAY too easy to drink a second or third glass….WHAT A PRICE! 96 POINTS?! Why, you could buy a $175 Bordeaux with a score like that!