Sommelier’s pick: 2009 Cheval des Andes
Who: Virgilio Cantu, sommelier at Beckrew Wine House, 2409 W. Alabama. A native of Mexico, Cantu earned his somm stripes from Barcelona University and the Argentinean School of Sommeliers. In 2013, he became certified as a French Wine Scholar, although he admits his greatest passion is for Argentinean wines. After working at several spots in Costa Rica, he moved to Miami and then to Houston, where he landed at the Tasting Room’s River Oaks location, which reopened under new ownership as Beckrew in February.
What: 2009 Cheval des Andes
Why: Produced with high-altitude malbec (60 percent) and cabernet grapes from the 80-year-old Las Compuertas vineyard in Mendoza’s outstanding Luján de Cuyo region, the Cheval des Andes is a “juicy, ripe” wine that, Cantu says, offers “a great expression of the Argentinean terroir, showing the best of the Old and the New World. It’s deep-purple-colored with a bright rim and an opaque center. Notes of forest floor, leather and cigar box with hints of jam and blueberry on the nose announce its origin. The palate is medium to fullbodied with velvety tannins, well integrated oak and flavors of cassis, blueberries, soil and violets, closing with an outstanding long finish.” He says “this elegant and sophisticated wine,” the result of a special joint venture between Saint-Emilion’s famed Cheval Blanc and Terrazas de Los Andes, will be drinking splendidly at least through 2020.
Buy it: $111 for a bottle at Beckrew