Vina Cobos
'Cobos' Malbec
Mendoza
2019

The producer

Viña Cobos was founded in 1998 by renowned American winemaker Paul Hobbs, following a decade spent exploring the potential of Mendoza’s vineyards. His ambition was to demonstrate that Malbec could produce wines of exceptional complexity, longevity and distinction, capable of standing alongside the world’s finest. The inaugural 1999 vintage of Cobos Malbec helped establish that reputation, bringing international attention to both the estate and Argentina’s potential for fine wine.

Working across Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, Viña Cobos draws on vineyards situated between 900 and 1,400 metres above sea level. Its approach combines meticulous vineyard management with a detailed understanding of each site’s soils and climate, allowing the character of individual parcels to shape the wines. The range extends from Felino and Bramare to its celebrated Vineyard Designate wines, with ‘Cobos’ Malbec representing the pinnacle of the portfolio. This flagship helped redefine expectations of Argentine Malbec, with the 2011 vintage receiving 100 points from James Suckling.

The wine

‘Cobos’ Malbec is Viña Cobos’s flagship wine, crafted from a meticulous selection of Malbec parcels in Mendoza. Careful vineyard management and precise selection underpin a wine designed to express the depth and complexity of Argentina’s signature grape. Ageing in French oak adds structure and finely integrated spice, complementing the concentrated dark fruit and floral aromatics. Richness is balanced by freshness and finely textured tannins, giving a wine of exceptional intensity, elegance and longevity.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.