Tapiz Las Notas de Jean Claude 2017
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James
Suckling
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This wine expresses the maximum intensity on the nose, finesse, elegance and harmony generated by Tapiz's terroir. Notes of fresh red fruits, raspberries, cassis and truffles accompanied by delicate spicy hints. Its oak aging brings aromas of coffee and chocolate amalgamated with fruity notes typical of this varietal of San Pablo Estate. The palate is intense, with sweet and elegant tannins and a long finish.
Blend: 74% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of black cherries, dried flowers, tobacco leaf, tar, hazelnut and dark chocolate. It’s full-bodied with firm, polished and velvety tannins. Concentrated and smooth with a solid core of ripe, spiced dark fruit.
Other Vintages
2014-
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
The Tapiz Winery, located in the San Pablo I.G. in Mendoza’s Uco Valley, has one of the highest vineyards in Mendoza at 4,600 feet above sea level. Under the ownership and vision of Patricia Ortiz, Tapiz is a pioneer in the region and helped develop San Pablo into one of Argentina’s most renowned IGs. The state-of-the art winery is located in the heart of the estate vineyards, at the foothills of the Andes Mountains.
The highly rated wines of Tapiz are made by the celebrated winemaking team of Fabian Valenzuela and famed Bordeaux winemaker Jean Claude Berrouet (winemaker of Petrus for 44 vintages). Their wines are a beautiful tapiz (tapestry) of terroir and innovation. Benefiting from the extremes of altitude, temperature, and soil heterogeneity, Fabian and Jean Claude are able to create wines that are full-bodied and concentrated, yet elegant and balanced.
Patricia Ortiz, an avid art collector and former nephrologist, has imparted the need to strive for both artistic and scientific excellence in winemaking. To that end her Zolo winery (Agrelo, Mendoza) and Tapiz winery (San Pablo, Uco Valley) are staffed with some of Argentina’s most passionate and successful wine professionals and the most state-of-the-art technology. Patricia has focused her efforts on creating sustainable winemaking. In addition to hiring one of Argentina's top winemakers (Fabian Valenzuela) and vineyard managers (Carlos Correas), Patricia also brought on Jean Claude Berrouet as consulting winemaker.
Her Zolo and Tapiz wines are two of the top selling and critically-acclaimed Argentine brands in the U.S. and each include Top 100 Wines of the Year. In 2022, Patricia won the La Nación's Women to the World prize. La Nación, Argentina's most important newspaper, chose Patricia for her groundbreaking work as a successful woman leader of the wine industry. Patricia is the owner and President of three wineries (Tapiz, Zolo, and Wapisa) and nine sustainably-farmed vineyards in different parts of Argentina and is the first female president of Bodegas de Argentina, the industry trade group. Patricia, who lived many years in the U.S. and speaks fluent English, is one of Mendoza’s top ambassadors to the world. In 2019 she became the first female President of Bodegas de Argentina and in 2023 she was nominated by Wine Enthusiast as Executive of the Year.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
With a winning combination of cool weather, high elevation and well-draining alluvial soils, it is no surprise that Mendoza’s Uco Valley is one of the most exciting up-and-coming wine regions in Argentina. Healthy, easy-to-manage vines produce low yields of high-quality fruit, which in turn create flavorful, full-bodied wines with generous acidity.
This is the source of some of the best Malbec in Mendoza, which can range from value-priced to ultra-premium. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay also perform well here.