CHEVAL DES ANDES RED BLEND 2015

“Cheval des Andes is the joint venture between Château Cheval Blanc, Premier Grand Cru Classé A of Saint-Emilion, and Terrazas de los Andes. Originally, Pierre Lurton, President of Château Cheval Blanc, sought out a special international terroir in which to apply the storied blending heritage of the French Château. The Cheval des Andes collaboration came to be as the result of one French winemaker’s voyage to the other side of the world and a glass of impressive Argentinean wine. Visiting Argentina in the 90s, Pierre Lurton, President of Château Cheval Blanc, legendary Premier Grand Cru Classé A of Saint-Emilion, found himself in the sloping plains of the majestic Andes mountains at the Terrazas de los Andes vineyards. Cheval Blanc’s reconnection with its past was consummated in 1999 during this visit through the select parcel of the most treasured high elevation terroir in Argentina: Terrazas de los Andes’ 80 year-old Las Compuertas vineyard, found in Vistalba, Mendoza. Upon tasting their Malbec, he was captivated by the quality of the wine being produced in this breathtaking yet seemingly inhospitable location and was intrigued by the notion of unearthing a connection with the Saint-Emilion past. Decimated by phylloxera in the 1860s from its position as the one of the most important varieties in Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, the Malbec had since been reincarnated in ungrafted form in Argentina, producing some of the world’s best Malbec in recent years. Along with this renaissance in Argentina emerged an ambitious vision to forge a new path in international winemaking.”