🇦🇷 Marcelo Pelleriti Grand Cuvée Blend 2019

This is Mendoza showing off, and it knows you’re watching. Grand Cuvée is the “top barrels only” flex from Marcelo Pelleriti, built for tonight’s steak and next decade’s bragging rights.

Wine Description 

Grand Cuvée is Marcelo Pelleriti’s serious-face red blend, pulled from micro-vinified barrels and assembled like a greatest-hits album from Mendoza. It’s Malbec-led with Cabernet Franc in the mix, sourced across spots like La Consulta, Altamira, and Agrelo, then raised in French oak and left to chill in bottle before it ever meets your glass.

Why Marcelo matters: he’s not just “a winemaker,” he’s the Mendoza-born, Bordeaux-seasoned guy who became the first Argentine winemaker credited with a 100-point Robert Parker score for Château La Violette 2010 in Pomerol. So yes, he’s allergic to mediocre. 

If you want a plush, polished red that still has edge, this is your bottle. If you want easy-glug pizza wine, keep scrolling and don’t waste Grand Cuvée’s time.

Vine-to-Table: Meet the Winemaker 

Marcelo Pelleriti is Mendoza-born and has spent more than two decades doing harvests in Bordeaux’s top châteaux, mentored by Michel Rolland, with a style rooted in micro-vinification and long-aging structure. He’s also credited as the first Argentine winemaker to earn a 100-point Robert Parker score for a French wine, Château La Violette 2010 in Pomerol, which tells you exactly how high his standards sit. 

The Vibe 

Dark, sleek, and tailored, like a black blazer that actually fits. It’s Mendoza with polish: fruit, spice, and that graphite-mineral thing that makes you pause mid-sip like you just heard your name.

What it tastes like 

Wine Enthusiast calls out cranberry and flowers up top, then rich red fruit with baking spice and herbal notes like thyme and rosemary, plus graphite on the finish. James Suckling’s note leans into lead pencil, blackberries, blueberries, ink, graphite, and creamy, polished tannins. 

Pairing + When to drink it 

Put this next to grilled beef, lamb, mushroomy anything, or a fancy burger that thinks it’s the main character. Drink now if you like it bold and structured, or cellar it if you enjoy the slow-burn glow-up, because it’s built with long aging in mind.

Quick Specs 

• Producer: Pelleriti Priore 

• Winemaker: Marcelo Pelleriti

• Region/Appellation: Mendoza, Argentina (Uco Valley and Luján de Cuyo sources referenced) 

• Grapes: Malbec, Cabernet Franc 

• Vintage: 2019 

• Winemaking/Aging: Micro-vinification in 225L French oak, cold maceration, hand pigeage; aged 24 months in French oak plus extended bottle storage

• ABV: 14.2% 

• Bottle size: 750 ml 

Critic Reviews

• Jesica Vargas, Wine Enthusiast: 94 points (Reviewed vintage: 2019; Issue date: 5/1/2025)
  Excerpt: notes cranberry and flowers, rich red fruit, baking spice, herbs, and graphite.
  Source: Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide page 

• James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com: 97 points (Reviewed vintage: 2019; Date: Feb 4, 2024)
  Excerpt: lead pencil, dark berries, ink, graphite, creamy polished tannins.
  

• Tim Atkin MW: 95 points (Reviewed vintage: 2019)
  Excerpt: listed as a top Bordeaux-blend-style performer in the report context.
  

FAQs

Q: What does “Top Twenty Barrels” mean on Marcelo Pelleriti Grand Cuvée 2019?
A: It literally means the 2019 blend is built from a selection described as the “Top Twenty Barrels” of the vintage, with components chosen for long aging. In other words, this is not “best lots,” it’s “best barrels,” which is a different kind of picky.

Q: Which Mendoza sites feed into Grand Cuvée 2019, and why should I care?
A: The 2019 tech sheet lists a mix that includes La Consulta, Altamira, and Agrelo, with a co-fermented Cabernet Franc and Malbec component from Altamira. That mix is the point: it’s designed as a layered Mendoza snapshot, not a single-vineyard postcard. 

Q: Is Grand Cuvée 2019 actually micro-vinified, or is that marketing perfume?
A: The producer and importer both describe a micro-winemaking approach using 225-liter French oak barrels, with cold maceration and hand work like pigeage. It’s hands-on, small-batch, and intentionally texture-driven. 

Q: Who is Marcelo Pelleriti outside Argentina, and what’s the headline fact?
A: Pelleriti Priore’s own founder bio states Marcelo Pelleriti was the first Argentine winemaker to earn a 100-point Robert Parker score for Château La Violette 2010 in Pomerol. That’s a Mendoza guy earning a perfect score in Pomerol territory, which is not casual. 

Q: How long is Marcelo Pelleriti Grand Cuvée 2019 meant to age?
A: The tech sheet frames it as age-worthy with an aging potential of roughly 15 to 30 years, depending on storage and your patience level. It’s explicitly built to drink now and evolve for decades.