Cabernet Sauvignon Mendoza 2018 – Kaiken Ultra

To produce the Cabernet Sauvignon Mendoza Kaiken Ultra, the fruit was hand picked and then sorted manually in the winery. The must was cold-soaked for seven days at 10ºC before fermentation in concrete tanks at controlled temperatures of 26ºC. Fermentation took seven days with post-fermentation maceration lasting another three weeks. The wine underwent spontaneous malolactic fermentation in tank before being transferred to French oak barrels (one third of which were new) for 12 months. It was then aged for a further six months in bottle prior to release.

All of the fruit used for the Cabernet Sauvignon Ultra was sourced from the Vistalba vineyard in Lujan de Cuyo, which has been farmed biodynamically since 2011. This fine 80-year-old vineyard gives wines of outstanding elegance, structure, and power. The vines are grown 1,050 metres above sea level and 800 metres away from the Mendoza River. Half a metre of alluvial soil on top of gravel from the river yields concentrated high-quality fruit.

Kaikenes are wild geese, native to Patagonia, that fly across the Andes between Chile and Argentina. In the same way, Montes, the Chilean winery, crossed the Andes to set up in Mendoza. Their vineyards are situated in the heart of Mendoza and further to the south in Valle de Uco, where many of the premium producers are now sourcing their fruit. The focus is primarily on Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, a variety that has been somewhat forgotten as Malbec has surfed one wave of success after another in the past decade. As a result, there are many old vineyards in Mendoza that produce excellent fruit. Kaiken’s own vineyards supply 70% of their production requirements and 30% is from vineyards that they control.