Fabre Montmayou Gran Reserva Malbec 2020

This is exactly what winemaking savvy mixed with incredible vineyards with 100+ year-old ancient vines brings you. Color, power with finesse, length… and big scores. That’s once again what we have here today.

I got my hands on Herve Fabre’s ‘Gran Reserva’ Malbec bottling. This isn’t his high-flying fan favorite, Reserva bottling, it’s the Gran Reserva. It’s even a step up from that. In Argentina, Gran Reserva bottlings must be aged for at least 24 months in the cellar, twice as long as the Reserva bottlings. They’re also only made in great vintages.

2020 was a vintage that wasn’t great in most places but Mendoza in Argentina fared far better than most. Few if any came out ahead of Herve, who chooses the very best fruit from his 100+ year old vines for his Gran Reserva bottling. His 2020 is a stunner. It’s one that you really have to take your time with to get the full experience. The aromas are complex and change constantly in the glass ranging from blackberries and plum touched with sandalwood and mint. This amazing complexity continues mid-palate, where layers of dark, powerful fruit unwind in the glass. Then there’s the fruit finish that goes for a mile with a stony streak that speaks to its old-vine sources.

Antonio Galloni’s Vinous came in with a thunderous 94-point score, a number they try to reserve for the $30-60 bottlings from around the world. But as I always say, no one does what Herve can do. Sourced from a vineyard that runs up to 4000 feet above sea level, Vinous called out the Reserva’s “good concentration, expensive feel and shapely muscles”, no doubt a tribute to the elevation and cooler nights that help develop such a strong and balanced natural acidity.
This is one to drink now or in 10-15 years, that’s part of the beauty. They’re great now and can also be aged.