Luján de Cuyo IG

Luján de Cuyo is the biggest Malbec department in Mendoza. The INV counts 15,166.6 hectares here in 833 vineyards, 10.8% of Mendoza's vines and second only to San Martín. Malbec covers 8,854 hectares, about 58% of the department, and Cabernet Sauvignon covers 1,970. The average vineyard is 18.2 hectares, nearly double the province's 9.8. A Vinous report from 2023 counts 2,700 hectares of vines at least 40 years old, 1,650 of them Malbec.

The soils are alluvial, sand, clay and silt that the Mendoza river carried down from the Andes, low in organic matter. David Bonomi of Norton describes them as mostly alluvial over a rocky subsoil, with clay, sand and lime sediment. The name on the label is the whole department, which includes four smaller IGs (Agrelo, Alto Agrelo, Las Compuertas and Vistalba) and the stricter Luján de Cuyo DOC. Norton, Luigi Bosca, Terrazas de los Andes and Catena all work here, and Casarena and Matervini are among the smaller names.

The department covers a lot of ground, so when I open a bottle that says only Luján de Cuyo I check whether a district is named. I'm looking for enough freshness to carry the ripe black fruit.