Fresh news from the streets of San Francisco. The Viva Los Andes Tasting Tour was in town this past weekend where hundreds of Argentineans were poured to enthusiasts and trade alike. Big, bold, beautiful Malbecs, naturally, along with Malbec-based Bordeaux blends like this wine today stole the show, yet one winery stood tall. The Achával Ferrer wines were, once again, exemplary, textbook, which is a well-known and established fact, no surprises there. The SECRET we let you in on a couple of years ago, remains undiscovered dear Operatives, but YOU KNOW… Hand of God is made by Santiago Achával as a joint venture with our friend Jon Staenberg, and the wines are every bit cut of the same cloth while staying completely under the radar!

Saturated black-purple, almost tarry to the core, and concentrated like molasses as it barely swirls in the glass. An aristocratic perfume of espresso, leather, cassis, black cherry, and raspberry fills the nose. Opulently textured on the palate, with chocolatey tannins, complex and ripe with a sense of elegance within power. Hints of smoke, nutmeg, and dried black cherries expand long and effortlessly on the seamless finish. What else to pair with this gentle beast but a traditional Argentinean like grilled skirt steak with chimichurri. Don’t forget your veggies, onions, peppers and mushrooms, too.

Comparable wines from the Achával Ferrer portfolio can easily fetch SIX times the unbelievably modest $27.99 price this beauty descends to a Wine Spies 40% OFF deal nowhere else to be found. Might we add that the Sobremesa Vineyard, where this wine was born, is located at 3,600 feet above sea level in the shadows of the tree-barren Andes ranges. Sobremesa is chock-full of deep gravel beds, mixed with smaller fractions of clay, lime, sand and rocks with good structure and perfect water drainage. The varietals that grow here thrive in this extreme elevation and climate.

Santiago Achával remains one of the most award-winning and respected winemakers in the world. His accomplishments include, but are not limited to spots within Wine Spectator’s Top 10 wines in the world, massive scores by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate in the 95-99 points range on tens of wines, a #1 ranking by Decanter and a peerless Winery of the Year accolade by Wine & Spirits magazine based on blind tastings of more than 9,000 wines globally.

Here’s what the wine press has to say on Hand of God:

Neal Martin – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate - “I am not sure whether naming your wine after a blatant handball that cost England a place in the semi-finals of the 1986 World Cup is in good taste. I had to resist the temptation to slate the wines. Annoyingly, their quality prevented me from doing so. The company was founded by no less than Santiago Achával (of Achával Ferrer) and his classmate and Stanford Business School, Jon Staenberg… the wines are worth looking out for.”