Trapiche has a long and storied history, having been founded back in 1883. The brand consists of over 1000 hectares spread out between several Mendoza vineyards.
Trapiche is a two-time winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition Argentinian Wine Producer of the Year award and is the single largest producer and exporter of wine in Argentina.
The brand was established by Grupo Peñaflor, one of the top ten largest wine producers worldwide.
Trapiche is committed to producing world-class wines using environmentally sustainable viticultural practices.
The winery allows only fertilizers produced from vegetable and animal wastes from bio-dynamic farms.
Furthermore, the approach adopted by the winery assumes that the moon cycles and the planetary positions influence vine growth, similar to how they influence the tides of the seas.
All of the work in the vineyards is planned around the different phases of the moon and the stellar dynamics they believe influence the growth of the vines.
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Trapiche Terroir Series Coletto Malbec Review
The Terroir Series from Trapiche focuses on highlighting a certain sense of place in the vineyard.
The term “terroir,” coined by the French, refers to the soil, climate, weather, and topography of a given region.
The idea is that any given particular combination of these factors produces a wine that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the absence of even one of these factors.
The Coletto offering from this series is sourced from eleven-year-old vineyards in El Peral, Tupungato, and Mendoza.
The vineyards sit at an altitude of 3,697 feet above sea level.
Trapiche Terroir Seriescoletto Malbec Summary
- Brand: Trapiche
- Country: Argentina
- Regions: El Peral, Tupungato, and Mendoza
- Wine Type: Red Wine
- Varietal: Malbec
- ABV: 14.5%
Appearance
The wine is an intense violet-red color in the glass, with a rim sporting a clean garnet hue. The legs are hefty, forming slowly and falling lazily down the glass.
Smell
The nose on this is quite lively. There are notes of red plum, underripe cherries, and fresh oak. After this wave subsides, you get notes of pipe tobacco, anise, and freshly ground coffee beans.
Taste
Dried plums, tart wild cherries, fresh blackberries, and raspberries are the first things that jump out of the glass as you take your first sip.
These flavors are quickly accompanied by vanilla beans, toasted oak, sweet tobacco, and a bit of allspice.
The wine sits heavily on the palate, and the finish is quite long. There is ample tannin here, but not enough to completely draw the moisture from your mouth.
It acts to add a very nice sense of structure to what could otherwise be a very one-dimensional wine.
What Does Trapiche Terroir Series Coletto Malbec With?
I really enjoy pairing wines such as this with bacon and blue cheese burgers.
The blue cheese really helps to bring out the fruitiness of the Malbec, and the tannin and acid brought to the table by the wine help to cut through the fatty richness of both the patty and the bacon.
What Wines Are Similar to Trapiche Terroir Series Coletto Malbec?
Another fantastic example of high-quality Malbec is the Adriana Riverstones offering from Catena. This bottle is produced at high altitudes and consistently scores high ratings from both critics and consumers alike.
Yet another high-quality producer to look to is Los Noques. I recently had the opportunity to try their Finca Don Juan blend, which is primarily Malbec, at a wine dinner that I helped to host.
The rest of the blend is rounded out with Cabernet Franc, which adds some nice floral characteristics to the powerful fruit brought to the table by the Malbec.
Final Thoughts
All in all, I am not a Malbec person, if I am being honest. That being said, this is an excellent example of a bottle that outperforms the crowd surrounding it.
If you try this bottle and dislike it, then I am not sure that there is a Malbec out there for you.