El Esteco Malbec

There are few places on earth where magic really happens. The Calchaquí Valley, home of Bodega El Esteco winery, is certainly one of them. This Valley, located at over 6000 feet hidden in the North of Argentina, displays some unique characteristics. Poor alluvial soils; high sun exposure; low humidity; and broad thermal amplitude make the Calchaquí Valley an exceptional wine region. The El Esteco range of wines is oriented to have a personality of great finesse and complexity. Concentrated bunches of small grains are manually harvested early in the morning and put into small bins of 18 kg. Pre-fermentative maceration at 5°C in stainless steel tanks and gentle treatments are carried out during alcoholic fermentation. Utilization of both native and selected yeasts for the fermentation process. Post fermentative maceration total 25 days. Natural malolactic fermentation is carried in both american and french barrels of first, second and third use. Finalizing this process the wine is aged in both American and French barrels for 12 months. A careful selection of barrels is made, looking for light toasted oak in order to accentuate the freshness of the fruit. The wine is bottled unfiltered, and kept at the winery during 6 months.