Review: 3 South American Bordeaux-Style Red Blends, 2026 Releases

To label a wine a “Bordeaux-Style Red Blend” is to make a promise in the manner of a politician: confident in tone, possibly vacant in substance, and dependent on an unwillingness by the audience to ask follow-up questions. Are we talking Left Bank or Right? Which of the traditional cast of grapes survived the audition, and which were dismissed without notice? What understudy has slipped onto the stage, hoping no one checks the program? In South America, the sleight of hand is so routine it barely qualifies as deception: wherever Bordeaux’s ghost is invoked, look for Malbec standing in Merlot’s coat, hoping to be mistaken for the original. Here are three blends willing to test how far the mimicry can be stretched.

2023 Bodegas Salentein Numina Gran Corte Valle de Uco — A blend of  60% Malbec, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.5% Cabernet Franc, 7.5% Petit Verdot and 5% Merlot, a formula that keeps the fab five on the payroll, even if most of them are working part-time and phoning it in. Raspberry and red currant open the proceedings, giving way to a full-bodied run of blackberry, cedar plank, and tobacco leaf. This is the sort of wine that doesn’t need the borrowed prestige of a French appellation to make its case, though it will happily take the free advertising. A- / $50

2022 VINUV Memoir Grand Reserve — 60% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah, aged two years in French oak and another two in the bottle. Merlot offers vanilla and plum up front, supported by a full-bodied stretch of dark fruit and cherry behind it in good balance. An aged Gouda or Manchego would not go amiss as a candidate for pairing. B+ / $64

2023 Alta Vista Atemporal Valle de Uco — 60% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot, aged twelve months in French oak. The nose offers violet, pepper, cinnamon, and licorice as it settles, determined to provide some dimension. On the palate, Malbec supplies the silk, Cabernet Sauvignon the spine, Petit Verdot the volume, and remarkably no one grape tries to filibuster the others. B / $25

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