Ernesto Catena Siesta Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 Vista Flores, Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina 75cl

Ernesto Catena, a fourth-generation member of one of Argentina’s great wine families, has carved out his own artistic, biodynamic path. His Vista Flores estate in the Uco Valley was certified organic in 2011 and biodynamic the following year, farmed to Demeter standards at around 1,090 metres in the Andean foothills.

The Siesta wines take their name and spirit from ancient Inca tradition, and each year the team buries a few bottles of their best wine in the Vista Flores vineyard, a small ritual that captures the estate’s more poetic outlook. Planted in 2002, the site is worked entirely to biodynamic principles. This is the single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, made only from biodynamically grown fruit off the best lots, fermented in small parcels and aged in French and American oak for over a year before further time in bottle.

The 2017 vintage in the high Uco Valley gave ripe but balanced reds, the altitude and cool nights preserving acidity and fine tannin. That freshness keeps this full-bodied Cabernet lively rather than heavy, and gives it the balance to drink well now or hold a few more years.

Expect ripe plum and dark berry fruit with a lift of mint and a savoury, earthy undertow. It is full-bodied and polished, the tannins ripe and framing, the finish long and slowly unfolding. Give it a decant and serve it with roast lamb, grilled beef or a slow-cooked stew.

This is a distinctive, terroir-driven Cabernet from a genuinely biodynamic estate, one for drinkers who want personality and provenance as much as power.