Casarena Naoki Single Vineyard Malbec 2021

Casarena "Naoki" Single Vineyard Malbec, Agrelo, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, 2021 

Grape: 100% Malbec, limestone & gypsum soil, hand harvested, aged 12 months in new and used French oak barrels

Bright carmine red colour with topaz hues; wonderful varietal expression on the nose with rich red and black fruits with a mineral and herbal component typical of the Naoki vineyard; impeccably smooth on the palate with svelte tannins and a noticeable freshness with a fine spine of acidity here cutting through the rich core of powerful fruit. Expressive and complex.

Awarded 93/100 points, Tim Atkin MW, February 2024

A burning desire to become winegrowers led married couple Peter and Karen Dartley to travel across 3 continents to find the perfect place to produce wines. They arrived in Mendoza, Argentina in early 2006 and immediately knew they didn't have to look any further; they had come to the right place. An old winery from 1937 in the town of Perdriel (just 20 minutes from Mendoza) has been completely renovated and equipped with top modern vinification equipment. The wine house is painted in a beautiful golden sand colour, hence the name CASARENA, which in Spanish means "house of sand".

Casarena's single vineyard parcels are named after the Dartley's grandchildren: Naoki, Lauren, Owen and Jamilla.

In addition to buying 80 hectares planted with 80-year-old canes of Cabernet Sauvignon, another 240 hectares of new fields were planted under the close supervision of Michel Rolland himself. These new fields were originally covered with lots of rocks, so when Casarena began the work of removing them and preparing for planting, people from the local wineries were thoroughly amused at the work they were doing. Today, these producers are regretting that they did not see the area's enormous potential. Everyone now wants to buy up land here, and prices per hectare have risen sharply.

The Casarena vineyards are located in the sub-regions of Agrelo and Perdriel in southern Mendoza. The very purchase of the fields with Cabernet Sauvignon was a hard blow to the famous Catena Zapata, who for many years sourced their very best Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from these very fields, which deliver top quality. Peter and Karen also brought in two new winemakers, Bernardo Bossi & Alejandro Sejanovich, for the production of the house's wines. Both came from the winery that really put Argentina on the wine map, namely the famous Catena Zapata. Alejandro is very interested in getting to the "roots" of Malbec. That is why serious work is done on the selection of cuttings from the best vines for planting and grafting (Mass Selection). This technique is used on all the different parcels/fields with the equally different Malbec populations. This technique is used instead of cloning, where all vines end up with the same genetic ancestry.

Ambitions are high and therefore work hard both in the field and in the winery to achieve the desired results and qualities. The first vintage was 2009 and the house has already garnered great reviews.

Food Match: Chateaubriand, Tomahawk steak, rib of beef, butternut squash steaks au poivre.