Cela se reflète clairement dans le vin. Les arômes de fruits rouges prédominent sur ceux de fruits noirs, l'acidité est vive et le degré d'alcool est inférieur à celui des millésimes plus chauds. La fermentation a débuté dans des cuves en béton, avec 50 % de grappes entières ; le vin a ensuite été pressé tôt, et le jus a terminé sa fermentation dans des foudres en chêne (grandes cuves en bois), à la manière d'un vin blanc. Il a ensuite été élevé pendant 18 mois en fûts de chêne français.
Le style de ce vin privilégie la finesse à l'intensité, et le millésime 2016 met encore plus en valeur cette caractéristique que d'habitude. Ce fut un millésime froid et difficile dans une région pourtant conçue pour résister au froid. Il se dégustera idéalement jusqu'en 2034.
Robert Parker (97)
The 2016 Adrianna Vineyard Mundus Bacillus Terrae is from a cold and rainy El Niño vintage that broke the mold of typical Mendoza weather. The grapes were picked a bit later and achieved a slow, perfect ripening while retaining very good freshness. They used 50% full clusters in this cooler year. The wine was pressed before it finished fermenting (in concrete), and the juice—without skins, pips or stems—finished fermenting like a white in the foudre. When I tasted the wines after bottling, this felt a bit dizzy, with the aromatics coming and going, sometimes showing a little open. But the wine settled in bottle, and the palate shows the core of acidity that lifts the wine and provides incredible freshness; the tannins are ultra refined, and there is great overall balance. Yields were lower, so they only filled some 3,360 bottles.
James Suckling (96)
Aromas of violets, blueberries and black licorice follow through to a full body with tight and restrained tannins and a lively acidity. An energetic and youthful wine. Can age wonderfully but exciting to taste now.
Jancis Robinson (18)
100% Malbec from a 1.4-ha parcel in the Adrianna vineyard in Gualtallary at 1,390 m. The calcareous soils are ‘well drained and particularly rich in rhizobacteria, the microorganisms that help vine roots withstand stress and absorb nutrients’ – hence the name. 75% begins fermentation in concrete (50% whole bunch), 25% (juice only) in oak foudre. 18 months in French oak. TA 7.4 g/l, pH 3.45.
Still deep crimson with an evolved rim. Complex and remarkably fresh. A savoury envoy from the Andes with structure but good-quality tannins. Jancis Robinson
