Amalaya

High in the Calchaquí Valley of Salta, where the vines grow at nearly 1,800 metres beneath the Andes, Amalaya makes some of the most thrilling high-altitude wines in Argentina. The name means 'hope for a miracle' in the language of the valley’s ancient Calchaquí people.

That miracle was water, found in a parched, sun-blasted desert that had never grown vines. Founded by the pioneering Donald Hess, the man behind the legendary Bodega Colomé, Amalaya farms sustainably around the town of Cafayate, one of the highest wine regions on earth.

Altitude is everything here. Fierce sun, cool nights and rocky, sandy soils give grapes with thick skins, deep colour and a singing freshness. The wines, from the aromatic Torrontés and Riesling white to the structured Gran Corte, are vivid, fruit-driven and unmistakably of their place.

Fresh, characterful and remarkable value, these are wines that capture the energy of one of the world’s most dramatic vineyards. A little Andean magic in every glass.