Melipal “Ikella” Cabernet Sauvignon

Martin Tosolini knows that great wine requires more than great grapes.“When defining our terroir,” says the winemaker for Ikella, “we not only refer to the dry soil, radiant sunshine, cool nights and pure water from the Andes, but also to the attitude of the people working in the vineyards. Each of them represents the communion of human effort with nature — that is our terroir.”Ikella is made at Melipal Vina & Bodega. The Melipal estate is located in Agrelo, part of the Lujan de Cuyo growing area of Argentina. In recent years, Agrelo has earned a reputation for producing expressive wines of exceptional quality — wines that hold their own next to those of the world’s longer established winegrowing regions.The 2009 Ikella Cabernet Sauvignon is a big, bold wine that really struts its stuff when accompanied by a slice of slow-cooked roast beef — a marriage not unlike the union of great grapes and passionate vineyard workers.