The wine is made from Malbec from 80-100-year-old vines in Vistalba (Mendoza), on an ecologically and biodynamically cultivated plot which is known for producing few grapes, but very elegant and harmonious wines. The harvest takes place manually and the grapes are transported to the cellar in small boxes to avoid crushing and oxidation during transport to the cellar. The fermentation takes place in small yeast tanks with the grapes’ own yeast and is followed by a malolactic fermentation. The wine is then matured for 18 months in French barriques (500 l., 50% new). It settles naturally and is very easily filtered before bottling. Mai-Malbec is further matured for 12 months in the bottle.
The wine has a deep, purplish red color with purple tinges. In the aroma and taste you will find Malbec’s classic tones of cherries and plums, but also a little tobacco, cinnamon and cedar. The wine ends with good complexity, minerality and underlying nuances of spices and vanilla. You can clearly sense that it is the house’s top wine.
Serve the wine at 18-20 degrees. The wine’s complexity makes it good for game such as game meat and game birds, but also strong stews, red meat and lamb. It’s a good idea to oxygenate mine. 30 minutes in carafe before serving.
In 2001, Aurelio Montes, who had put Chile on the vinous world map in terms of quality wine, took the trip across the Andes and founded the winery “Kaiken” in Mendoza, Argentina. The ambition was to combine the tireless focus on quality that had taken the Montes wines in Chile into a class of their own, with the unique terroir of Argentina, thus uniting the best of both countries. The name “Kaiken” was chosen as it is also the name of a local wild goose, which symbolically (also) makes a cross-border and challenging “journey” across the Andes between the two countries.
Winemaker Aurelio Montes has always believed that 80% of a good wine is based on the nature of the vineyards and the work that is carried out in them, whereas only 20% can be attributed to the work in the cellar, and at Kaiken this has meant that one has begun a process where biodynamics and sustainability play a far greater role.
“Working with the biodynamic principles in the field makes you more human. You can be 100% organic and still function like a computer” – Aurelio Montes.
