Altos Las Hormigas

Few names did more to put Argentine Malbec on the world stage than Altos Las Hormigas. Founded in 1995 by two Italians, the celebrated winemaker Alberto Antonini and the entrepreneur Antonio Morescalchi, it was among the first to stake everything on Malbec in Mendoza, at a time when the region still looked to Cabernet.

The name means 'the ants', a nod both to the colonies that devoured the first young vines and to the Argentine phrase for patient, painstaking work. That spirit still defines the place: organic farming, native yeasts, concrete and old, untoasted oak, all in service of letting each wine speak plainly of where it grew.

Since 2012, working with the Chilean soil specialist Pedro Parra, the estate has pursued terroir with rare seriousness, digging thousands of soil pits across the high Uco Valley in search of limestone. The range climbs from the fresh, unoaked Clásico to the structured Reserve and the singular Appellation wines of Gualtallary and Altamira, Mendoza’s answer to grand cru.

These are unshowy, ambitious wines made by people who understand their land. Proof that Malbec, given the right soil and a light touch, can be every bit as eloquent as the great reds of the Old World.