Argentina · Mendoza

Terrazas de los Andes

High-altitude Mendoza wines centred on Malbec, shaped by separated vineyard plots, cool mountain conditions and alluvial soils.

The producer

Terrazas de los Andes works from Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, across more than 200 high-altitude plots. Its vineyards run from ungrafted Malbec planted at Las Compuertas in 1929, 1,070 metres above sea level, to El Espinillo at 1,650 metres. Cool conditions, meltwater and varied alluvial soils help keep acidity present as fruit ripens.

Malbec leads the range, from Reserva Malbec to Grand Malbec 2022, a twelve-plot blend raised with oak. The latter brings fruit and herbal notes into a textured red with tannin, acidity and a firm finish. Grand Chardonnay uses oak and lees to add body around its acidity, while Cheval des Andes combines Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon in a Bordeaux-style blend.

Known for

High-altitude Mendoza Malbec, from separated vineyard plots.

Notable facts

The story

The 1999 Cheval des Andes partnership

In 1999, Terrazas de los Andes partnered with Château Cheval Blanc to create Cheval des Andes. The new wine did not follow the estate’s usual single-grape Malbec route: it combined Mendoza Malbec with Cabernet Sauvignon in a Bordeaux-style blend. Malbec supplied the Argentine fruit core, while Cabernet Sauvignon became part of the wine’s structural make-up. The collaboration produced a named wine alongside Terrazas de los Andes’ own Reserva and Grand bottlings, with a composition distinct from both the estate’s Malbec wines and its Grand Chardonnay. Cheval des Andes remains attached to that partnership begun in 1999.

From the atlas

Terrazas de los Andes

At A Glance

Terrazas de los Andes works from Luján de Cuyo in Mendoza, within Argentina’s wider Cuyo region. Malbec is the central grape, but the range also uses Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay; high-altitude plots, cool conditions and varied Mendoza districts turn those grapes into wines with differing fruit, acidity, tannin and texture.

The Producer

Part of the French LVMH group, Terrazas de los Andes is led in agronomy and winemaking by Lucas Löwi. Its work spans more than 200 high-altitude plots and more than 500 hectares cultivated with regenerative practices, so a Malbec can draw on separated sites rather than one broad Mendoza source.

Place

Mendoza’s mountain vineyards provide the thread through the bottles. The estate traces a line from Las Compuertas at 1,070 metres to El Espinillo at 1,650 metres; cooler high-altitude conditions slow ripening, preserving acidity alongside Malbec fruit and giving the range a firmer frame than a warm, low-lying source alone would provide.

Soil And Site

Meltwater and diverse alluvial soils are part of the estate’s account of its vineyard character. Las Compuertas supplies an especially tangible anchor: an ungrafted Malbec vineyard planted in 1929. Across this spread of altitude and ground, site selection directs the shape of fruit and the balance between tannin, freshness and weight in the finished wines.

Story

The project emerged during the 1990s, although supplied accounts disagree on the exact founding year. One early decision has a clear wine consequence: Terrazas de los Andes planted in Gualtallary in 1993, when that Uco Valley area was far less established than it is now. The planting added another cool, elevated Mendoza source to the estate’s Malbec work, extending the conversation beyond its Luján de Cuyo base.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate’s vineyard scale is not treated as one uniform holding. More than 200 high-altitude plots allow fruit to be kept distinct before blending, while regenerative cultivation covers more than 500 hectares. In the cellar, Grand Malbec 2022 uses oak élevage, which sits alongside its fruit, herbal notes, tannin and acidity; Grand Chardonnay 2022 uses oak and lees, building texture around the grape’s acidity rather than turning the white into a Malbec-like wine.

Wines

Reserva Malbec 2023 is the broad Malbec expression named in the supplied range, built to show the grape’s fruit and capacity to age. Grand Malbec 2022 moves into a more assembled style: it combines twelve plots, with three named districts contributing differentiated fruit and herbal registers, then develops through oak élevage into a wine with tannin, acidity and layered texture.

Grand Chardonnay 2022 takes the same attention to vineyard source into a white wine drawn from two vineyards. Oak and lees bring weight and texture, while acidity keeps the palate moving. Cheval des Andes stands apart from both Grand wines: created with Château Cheval Blanc, it combines Malbec with Cabernet Sauvignon in a Bordeaux-style blend, adding Cabernet structure to Mendoza fruit.

In The Glass

Across the Malbecs, fruit is the starting point, but the shape changes with the bottle. Reserva Malbec places the grape in a more direct frame, while Grand Malbec adds herbal aroma, oak influence, tannin and acidity from its multi-plot composition. The result is not simply more volume: fruit meets a more structured palate and a longer, firmer finish.

Grand Chardonnay shifts the sensory focus from tannin to acidity and lees-derived texture. Its aromatic character sits over a palate shaped by oak and lees, so the wine has body without losing lift. Cheval des Andes takes another route again, using Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon to combine fruit with the grip and structural pull of a red blend.

A Bottle To Understand It

Begin with Grand Malbec 2022. It is a twelve-plot Malbec assembled from three named Mendoza districts, then raised with oak élevage. Fruit and herbal aromas lead into a textured palate carried by tannin and acidity, with oak folded into the finish. This bottle puts the producer’s central idea on the table: separated high-altitude sites are gathered into one Malbec rather than flattened into a single regional blend.

Anecdote

In 1999, Terrazas de los Andes entered a partnership with Château Cheval Blanc to create Cheval des Andes. The result was not a straight Malbec bottling: the wine combined Mendoza Malbec with Cabernet Sauvignon in a Bordeaux-style blend. The partnership placed an Argentine grape beside a Bordeaux variety and gave the estate a distinct collaborative wine alongside its own Reserva and Grand bottlings. Cheval des Andes remains the name attached to that 1999 project, while the rest of the range continues to explore Malbec and Chardonnay through Mendoza vineyard sites.

Final Word

Terrazas de los Andes is most useful to approach through its vineyards before its labels: old ungrafted Malbec at Las Compuertas, higher ground at El Espinillo, and a range where Malbec, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon take different structural roles. Grand Malbec 2022 brings those choices into a single glass.

Sources

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