Cabernet Sauvignon, 2019. Los Noques

Don Juan Arrigoni's parents immigrated to Argentina from Bergamo, Italy, a small town in the north. They planted grapes there almost 50 years ago and sold them to other wineries until just recently. The winery is now run by his son, Don Juan, and son-in-law, Carlos Leone.

The word Noques comes from the 16th Century term for the small containers used to bring the grapes to the winery from the vineyard. That vineyard is now 17 years old and is at the epoch of its production. Great care is used in producing and aging the wines. Our selection was aged in small oak barrels for a year and then in the bottle for three years to gain complexity.

The soil here is volcanic, which most concede is the finest environment in which to grow grapes. The yield is so low that each vine barely produces enough grapes to make one bottle of wine as the density of the vineyard is almost three times that of most California vineyards.

This means that each vine concentrates all its virtue on one bottle, making that bottle extremely flavorful, and flavor is what this wine is all about. At once you are struck by the deep purple color signifying there's more going on here than meets the eye. The black pepper and red fruits combine with the meaty character of the wine signaling that meat would be the order of the day. Experiencing this beauty with a perfectly grilled prime New York steak with a few black peppercorns would be sublime.

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