Deep ruby color; black cherry, blackberry, blackcurrant, plum, chocolate, black pepper, subtle oak on the nose and palate.
Dry, touch of sweetness; light tannins and acidity. Very simple easy drinker; silky in the mouth. Blend of 94% cabernet sauvignon, 3% malbec, 3% petit verdot. Medium body with some sour cherry bite on the modest finish. Plays on the softer, inoffensive side of cab. You buy this for value, not depth or complexity. It comes in a one-liter bottle, not the standard 750 ml. 13.7% ABV
Vines hand-picked. Fermentation took place in small temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Maceration (juice contact with the skins, seeds, stems to extract phenolics—tannin, color, flavor elements) for 15-20 days. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation. Forty percent of the wine aged for six months in French oak, followed by blending the elements. Stabilized and filtered prior to bottling. Jimena López is the winemaker.
The Funcke family from Funkenhausen, Germany, arrived in Mendoza in the late 1800s. To honor his maternal ancestors, Kurt Heinlein founded Funckenhausen Vineyards in the San Rafael appellation of South Mendoza. It is located at the foothills of the Andes mountains near the banks of the Diamante River where distinctive malbec, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, and bonarda are grown.
The family-owned winery asserts it seeks to honor Kurt and Alejandro’s German ancestry while forging an Argentine tradition of winemaking for future generations. Kurt Heinlein and his grandson Alejandro Leirado Heinlein decided on a one-liter bottle “because to share you need more than 750 ml.”
Funckenhausen is part of Mendoza Family Wines. That is a group of five independently-owned family wineries that specialize in different terroirs in Mendoza and unite for distribution and marketing. Other members include Stocco de Viani, Viamonte, Salvador Patti, and Cuartofincas. Malbec is Argentina’s signature red wine; 75% of all the malbec acres in the world are in Argentina.
Funckenhausen Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza 2021 is inoffensive, simple, uncomplicated, soft, round. It’s distinguishing trait is value in a one-liter bottle.. Winery: “because to share you need more than 750 ml.” This compares well with higher end boxed wine. Nicely fruit-forward with more than acceptable fruit. Pair with beef dishes, although it does not have the tannic structure to complement well-marbled, highly savory cuts; lamb; poultry, where its reticence serves to not overwhelm in the way higher end cabs can do. Comfort foods—beef stew, meatloaf, meat lover pizza, burgers and sliders, pasta dishes with beef and tomato sauces. Cheese—cheddar, aged gouda, gorgonzola; aged cow’s milk cheese with some age; semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese with some age; slightly firm, soft-ripened cheese with earthy notes like triple-crème brie. $11-15 (1-liter bottle, about $8-9 if it was a 750 ml bottle)
