Some wines haunt you long after you first taste them. In the autumn of 2010, on a tasting trip to Argentina, I took my first sip of the astounding DiamAndes de Uco Gran Reserva, and have been thinking about it ever since. It was in the context of a tasting of dozens of wines – most of them remarkable in their own right – and yet, as soon as I took that first swallow, this one stood out.

DiamAndes, owned by the Bonnie family of Bordeaux’s Chateaux Malartic-Lagraviere and Gazin Rocquencourt, is a member of the Clos de los Siete, whose excellent, affordable flagship wine we covered right here in February. This bottling, the Gran Reserva 2007, is a blend of 70 percent Malbec and 30 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, and has been aged in French oak for 24 months. The result is a stunner: As delicious now as I remember it being the first time. Perhaps even more so.

DiamAndes de Uco Gran Reserva 2007

Beguiling, expressive nose of well-integrating oak, vanilla, cedar, chocolate, kirsch, mineral and a touch of creme. Flavors of black raspberry, blackberry and black currant mingle with minerals, cigar tobacco, spice, licorice and boysenberry. It’s all carried on a silk-textured frame, with the tannins growing lush and the finish expressing sage and perhaps even a hint of mint. Fantastic. Drink now through 2018.