The colorful, playful label on the Adelante Malbec gives you some indication of the nature of the wine inside the bottle; fruity, forward, easy to like and downright gulp-able.  What it doesn’t convey is the hard work and dedication that goes into this reasonably-price red wine.  Located in La Consulta, a sub-region of Valle de Uco in the southern part of Mendoza, Adelante brought together several partners from around the globe, with experience in vineyard management, winemaking, finance and marketing.  The winemaker of record, Ray Kaufman, spent over 20 years in Sonoma County before falling in love with Argentina and its primary grape variety, Malbec.  What started out as a side project for many of the participants soon became a full-fledged, highly successful venture.  To their credit, the partners rescued several old Malbec vineyards, including the 74-year old Don Eugenio Vineyard, in order to craft unique and delicious wines from this very special appellation.  Planted in poor clay/sand vineyards, at elevations beginning at 3000 feet above sea level, the vines thrive in the warm days and cool nights, benefitting their proximity to the Andes Mountains and nearby Tunuyan River.  After years of restoration, including retraining the vines to a cordon system better suited to the local microclimate, Adelante released their first wine in 2012, garnering lots of attention and glowing praise.   We are very pleased to introduce you to the 2021 Adelante Malbec, a wine that exemplifies all the wonderful attributes of the famous Mendoza wine region and, in particular, to old-vine Malbec, grown and produced to show off its lush, dark fruit, intriguing herbs and spices and generous mouthfeel.  There really is quite a lot of wine in the bottle, made even more attractive by its ridiculous low price.  One taste should confirm that the Adelante Malbec is the real deal and a winery to keep an eye on for future releases.- Frank Rothstein, Minister of Value