Navarro Correas Reserve Malbec: From a Family Older Than Argentina
In this article
Some wines arrive with a tasting note. This one arrives with a family story that begins in 1798, before Argentina existed and before a single Malbec vine had reached Mendoza.
The Navarro Correas Reserve Malbec 2021 is made by a family whose roots in Mendoza go back more than two centuries. It also draws on some of the most celebrated vineyard land in Argentina. Here is the story behind the bottle.
Before there was an Argentina
In 1798, Mendoza was a frontier town on the far edge of the Spanish Empire, pressed up against the Andes. There was no Argentina yet; independence was still 18 years away.
There was no Malbec in Mendoza either. The grape we now think of as Argentina's own was still growing in southwest France, where it had made the dark wines of Cahors since Roman times.
That year, Juan de Dios Correas planted his first vines in the foothills of the Andes. He went on to become one of Mendoza's leading figures, sitting on the city council in 1814 and governing the province from 1824 to 1826, in the uncertain years after independence.
A century behind the scenes
The family kept growing grapes after him. From the mid-1800s, for roughly a hundred years, they sold their grapes and wine to other producers. Their fruit ended up in other people's bottles, under other people's names.
Meanwhile, Mendoza was changing. In 1853, a French agronomist named Michel Aimé Pouget arrived with vine cuttings from France, and Malbec was among them. Back home, phylloxera would soon push Malbec close to oblivion. In Mendoza's dry desert air, the grape thrived, and it went on to find its second home and its most famous one.
Today, Malbec is so tied to the region that its arrival is celebrated every 17 April as World Malbec Day, marking the date the project behind Pouget's agricultural school was presented in Mendoza in 1853. If you're new to the grape, our Malbec collection is a good place to explore.
1974: the family name goes on the bottle
Almost 180 years after those first vines, a descendant called Edmundo Navarro Correas decided the family's grapes had spent long enough in other people's wine. In 1974, he began making wine under the family name.
Edmundo surrounded himself with artists and intellectuals. He invited some of Argentina's greatest painters to the winery and asked them to create works inspired by his wines. Their paintings became the family's private collection, and then the name of one of Argentina's first premium wine ranges: Colección Privada, with a different artwork on every label. Over the years, those labels carried work by major Argentine artists such as Antonio Berni, Luis Felipe Noé and Antonio Seguí.
The Reserve line sits a step above Colección Privada. It is made from the best plots the winery can find, with the aim of balancing fruit and oak.
Three corners of Mendoza in one bottle
Mendoza is a high-altitude desert. Barely any rain falls, and the vineyards are watered by snowmelt running down from the Andes. Days are hot and bright, nights turn cold, and the grapes ripen slowly, keeping their freshness.
Not every corner of Mendoza is equal, though. Most of its vines grow in the warmer, lower-lying east, which has long supplied the country's everyday wine. Argentina's most celebrated Malbecs come from higher ground: Luján de Cuyo, just south of the city, and the Uco Valley, further out against the mountains. The Reserve Malbec draws on both, from three vineyards each chosen for what it adds.
- La Consulta, at the southern tip of the Uco Valley, is surrounded by some of the valley's oldest vineyards and is considered a key area for premium wine. It brings floral perfume, sweet red fruit and deep colour.
- Los Árboles, in Tunuyán, is one of the Uco Valley's standout spots for elegant, fresh wines. It adds a mineral, cooling streak.
- Agrelo sits in Luján de Cuyo, home to the first official wine appellation in the Americas, created in 1989 to protect its historic Malbec vineyards. It gives the backbone: structure and polished dark fruit.
All three grow on deep, stony alluvial soils with clay and carbonates, washed down from the mountains over thousands of years. The grapes are picked by hand and sorted bunch by bunch before fermentation in stainless steel. You'll find more bottles from these high-altitude regions in our Argentinian wine range.
A Reserve by law, not just by name
In Argentina, "Reserva" is more than a word on a label. By law, a red Reserva must be aged for at least 12 months before release. This one spends 12 months in French and American oak, which adds spice and vanilla without smothering the fruit.
The result is a Malbec made from the same places as Argentina's most acclaimed bottles, at an everyday price. Its previous vintage won Gold at the International Wine Challenge.
In the glass
Deep violet-red, with violets and ripe plum on the nose. On the palate come black cherry, red fruit and a crack of black pepper. The tannins are firm but rounded, and five years in bottle has softened the edges, so it's drinking beautifully now.
Serve it at 16 to 18°C, just below room temperature on a warm day. Open it with grilled steak and chimichurri, a rib of beef, or slow-cooked lamb. Its structure also suits long-cooked dishes such as braises and stews.
A family story 228 years in the making, in one bottle. Discover the Navarro Correas Reserve Malbec and taste where it all leads.
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Bodega Navarro Correas Reserve Malbec 2021 £14.95 Family vines since 1798. Uco Valley & Luján de Cuyo fruit. |
