Matias Riccitelli Hey Malbec! 2018

Hey Malbec! is SUCH a fun and delicious wine from Mendoza. Winemaker Matías Riccitelli is the son of legendary Argentine winemaker, Jorge Riccitelli, who made the wines at Catena for many decades. A breakout star from a young age, Matías was born in Cafayate, Salta, a small village in northern Argentina where winemaking is an omnipresent trade and way of life. He grew up between Cafayate and Mendoza, studying and working with his dad, who was his winemaking mentor. From there, he went on to travel much of the wine world, learning along the way, and returned to Mendoza to serve as chief winemaker for two of Argentina’s top wineries, Fabre Montmayou and Bodega Norton.

Matías Riccitelli started his boutique winery in 2009, located in Las Compuertas at 1100 meters above sea level. It is the highest area of Lujan de Cuyo, and here he tends 20 hectares of ungrafted old vineyards. Matías also works with small, independent growers that own their lands at the bottom of the Andes halfway between 1000 and 1700 meters above sea level - in Gualtallary, Chacayes, Altamira and La Carrera. All harvests are conducted by hand and fermentation takes place in small concrete vats and concrete eggs. Purity and delicacy in winemaking are prized by Matías and great care is taken in preserving the fruit’s singularity in order to obtain vibrant wines. 

Hey Malbec! is made of 100% Malbec from Compuertas and Uco, harvested manually in small cases around 20 kg to ensure the integrity of each bunch. Whole-bunch fermentation takes place in open tanks, crushed by foot twice a day and then aged in concrete vats for 8 months.