BEST BUY; YEAR’S BEST MENDOZA MALBECS; The partnership between Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) and Catena, launched in 1999, produces this “second” wine with a higher proportion of malbec and less time in oak barrels than the flagship wine (also recommended here). In 2017, Amancaya is the more elegant of the two. The blend includes 33 percent cabernet sauvignon and spends a year in barrels (20 percent new): It’s smoky, dark and earthy, with fine cocoa-powder tannins giving the violet scented fruit a lithe line. – T.T.
