Mosquita Muerta ‘Pispi’ 2018

Mosquita Muerta — “dead mosquito” — began in 2010 when José Millán, along with his daughters Marisel and Melisa, burst onto Mendoza’s wine scene with a determination to develop premium reds at an affordable price.

The branding of the company, a reaction against the ‘intellectualisation of wine’, is a tongue-in-cheek homage to the women in José’s life — the logo is a cross with five letters M, for the name of his four daughters and his wife, Marisa. With names such as Cordero con Piel de Lobo (“sheep in wolf’s clothing”) and Perro Callejero encuentra tu hueso de oro (“stray dog looking for his golden bone”) the wine labelling is striking and darkly humorous.

The winery has a thousand hectares scattered in vineyards located in Gualtallary, Vista Flores, Chacayes, Tupungato, La Consulta, Los Arboles, Altamira, Perdriel and Medrano with winemaker Pablo Bassin dedicated to finding the perfect potential of  varietal and soil matches. The grapes are carefully hand harvested and fermented in French oak barrels and concrete tanks, with the proportions of each maturation method varying across the range.