Now the top of the range, the 2015 Cobos Malbec Chañares Estate is produced with grapes grown in their young vineyard in Los Árboles in Tunuyán. This comes from the oldest plot in the vineyard, a block that was already planted when they bought the estate. These vines were planted in 2007, yet the wine has remarkable complexity and depth for such young vines. This is a wine that marks a new era in the Viña Cobos history, with more weight from the Valle de Uco and less intervention in the winery, and it has more freshness and transparency and less new oak. In this second vintage, they also reduced the number of new barrels used for the élevage to 85% (and it might be lower in the future), which I believe helps to preserve the character of the wine. Even if it's generously oaked, it feels quite serious and balanced, without any sweetness. It has a dry palate with fine-grained, elegant tannins and a long, tasty, somewhat mineral finish. It should develop nicely in bottle. 3,840 bottles produced.

The Chañares Vineyard sits at 1,180m altitude on free-draining, alluvial rock with coarse sand and loam, farmed sustainably. This is the second vintage Paul Hobbs produced from the site (the first was 2014). A nose of deep black fruit, spice and violets is followed by a rich and velvety blackberry attack, underpinned by a firm tannic backbone and fresh streak of acidity. Notes of the native Argentinian jarilla spice develop as the wine opens in the glass. A wine that makes a statement of intent.