The Most Popular Grape

Cabernet Sauvignon is arguably the most popular, and most widely-planted, varietal. For all of the places where it's planted, however, a top terroir clearly is Argentina, especially the high altitude Mendoza region. Today's featured wine, the Antis Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva, is a classic example of Argentine winemaking.

Antis Wines is dedicated to producing premium and reserve wines in Mendoza. Argentina. They are located in Maipu, on the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Their philosophy is centered on achieving wines that speak of the land where they are born and crafted. They believe that their task is to recreate and enhance the potential contained in the grapes, using state of the art knowledge, the best materials and latest technology.

In 2002, Antis built a new wine making facility, with a capacity of 300,000 liters in refrigerated stainless steel fermentation tanks, a cave for barrel aging in Bordeaux-style oak barrels and a temperature controlled wine maturation and bottle storage area.

Once grapes have achieved optimum ripeness, they are harvested by hand, and Antis uses only those grapes that are intact. They sort and discard those that are unsuitable for their winemaking standards.

Grapes are de-stemmed and transferred, nearly intact, into stainless steel vats, where they undergo maceration from 21 to 28 days, to extract color and flavor. Alcoholic fermentation is carried out using native yeasts. Throughout these steps, Antis performs four cycles of remontage on every tank each day.

The white wines follow a different vinification path. Malolactic fermentation of the premium wines is carried out in stainless steel tanks and in oak barrels, in the case of the reserve wine. Oak maturation takes place in small French oak barrels from central France; for  12 to 14 months, in the case of the reserve wines, and for six months, in the case of premium red varietals.

Antis Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva is produced from a selected parcel in the Alcuchu vineyard, planted with 15 year old vines. The wine is matured in 50% new small French oak barrels. It has an intense ruby color and and a very aromatic nose full of ripe plum and berries. In the mouth, it shows plenty of fruit flavor, with ripe plum and berries, with hints of cocoa and spice. This reserve wine carries a Bottle Club® price of only $12.96, making it a perfect choice for any day of the week.

In addition to the Cabernet, look for the Antis Reserva Malbec, the Classic Red Blend and the Torrontes.