Why it matters
The producer
Bodegas DiamAndes sits at 1,200 metres in the Uco Valley, Mendoza, where a Belgian couple bought Andean land in 2005 and built a winery designed to disappear into the landscape. Alfred and Michèle Bonnie chose one of Argentina's coldest, highest wine districts for their estate, joining Clos de los Siete, a collective of four wineries farming a shared plateau in the Valle de Uco.
The range runs from a Malbec-Syrah blend under the Perlita label up through the single-varietal DiamAndes de Uco Malbec and a Grande Reserve Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon at the top. A Viognier white sits outside the red core. The bottles are made in a purpose-built gravity-flow facility completed in 2009, designed by Argentine architects Bórmida and Yanzón.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The Uco Valley lies south and west of Mendoza city, pushed up against the Andes foothills where irrigation water comes from snowmelt and the growing season stays long and dry. At 1,200 metres, the air is thin enough that the diurnal temperature swing between day and night is wide: hot enough by afternoon to ripen dark-skinned grapes fully, cold enough by midnight to lock acidity into the fruit before it fades. That combination gives Malbec from this altitude a darker, denser mid-palate than lower valley versions, while the cool nights keep the finish from feeling heavy.
Clos de los Siete was one of the earlier attempts to farm this plateau as a collective: four producers sharing infrastructure and elevation rather than competing across adjacent plots. DiamAndes draws on land within that shared 850-hectare footprint, though its individual parcels and acreage within the collective are not disclosed publicly.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range moves in three steps from Perlita at the entry level to Grande Reserve at the top, with the Viognier running as a separate white tier.
Perlita (Malbec-Syrah blend) is the most approachable wine in the range. Syrah brings a floral lift and adds colour and flesh to the dark-fruited Malbec core. The tannin is soft but present, giving a silky, velvety weight on the mid-palate that finishes with ripe dark fruit.