Salentein's new San Juan project is one to watch. This sunbaked Malbec is a touch desiccated on the nose, with ultraripe aromas of blackberry, prune, raisin and marzipan. A pure and layered palate is structured and not baked out. Toasty, blackened cassis and berry flavors reign, while this is chocolaty and tastes of wild berry fruits on the finish. Drink through 2020.

There's powerful minerality and spiciness in this ripe version, which offers concentrated dark plum and cherry tart flavors, with espresso notes on the muscularly tannic finish. Drink now through 2021. 2,100 cases made, 300 cases imported.

The 2014 Single Vineyard Block N.4 Malbec is from a plot on very stony, limestone and silex-rich soils at 1,400 meters in altitude. It fermented with indigenous and selected yeasts for 36 days and matured for 16 months in French and American oak barrels, 15% to 20% of them new. It is from a relatively "normal" year with good concentration and ripeness, yet it is still impacted by some new oak aromas in the third vintage of this bottling. This was the first vineyard where they detected more complexity and concentration, and they later found that the vineyard has more limestone in the soil, with a fine texture that allows the roots to go down easily. This is showy and aromatic, quite distinct from the other wines. There is good fruit but a little too much oak, with oak-related flavors and some powdery tannins. Better with powerful food. 25,200 bottles produced.

Full ruby-red. More high-toned oak to the aromas of blackberry and spices. Densely packed, concentrated and smooth but less refined than the 2016, showing a liqueur-like, even slightly raisiny ripeness, an element of menthol/herbal austerity and less obvious balance than the Appellation Malbec example. A second bottle was similarly high-toned on the nose and finished a bit gritty. Either 2016 was a better here or there has been a marked evolution of technique here in recent years.