Finca Sophenia, the producer of everyone’s favourite Altosur Malbec have been producing premium estate wines for over 20 years, many of which are sold here at JN Wine. While most of us are familiar with what’s inside the bottle, we decided it was time to introduce you to the people who create and care for the wine.
Founded by Roberto Luka, a former President of Wines of Argentina. In 1997, Finca Sophenia takes its name from the names of his partner´s daughter, Sophia and his own daughter, Eugenia. Gualtallary, Tupungato, Mendoza, was chosen as the terroir to produces Sophenia’s produce high quality wines. Gualtallary is located at 1200 meters (4000 feet) above sea level, on the slopes of the Andes Mountains. This provides the perfect conditions to produce elegant wines with freshness and texture. Benefits of this altitude are the cooler climate, abundant sun and sharp contrast between day and night temperatures.
The vineyards cover over 130 hectares. The soils are sandy and rocky with excellent natural drainage. The vineyards were implanted with selected French clones, which were grafted onto American rootstocks. An area of the vineyard has been reserved for the Malbec plants raised in Mendoza: low-productivity clones that were chosen for their aromatic properties, and whose stalks come from the most representative vineyards of this unique region, where the Malbec finds its clearest expression.
The irrigation water comes from the Andes’ thaw. The system that distributes it was structured to obtain small berries and a low production per hectare. In this way, the results are wines of great complexity, high fruit concentration and capable to age well.
In the winery, the grapes are treated in a very “French” fashion, equipped with the latest French technology to carry out the vinification process.
Finca Sophenia’s Synthesis Malbec recently received a score of 97 Points and a platinum medal from Decanter magazine:
“Malbec at its most elegant! Deep, brooding, earthy notes mingled with wild mountain herbs, grass and juicy, intense, spicy dark cherries. Incredibly pure with perfect oak and a very long, fresh finish.”
Tim Atkin, 97/93 points Decanter World Wine Awards 2018 View the range http://www.sophenia.com.ar/eng/index.php 