Cheval Blanc and Michel Rolland make Andean superstars

No one could believe more forcefully in the power of terroir to imprint itself on the wine made from it than this co-author of the fifth edition of The World Atlas of Wine, but even I have to admit that man can have an over-arching influence if he decides to. Two ambitious new reds made by Bordeaux neighbours in Mendoza, Argentina's dominant wine region, tasted side by side recently perfectly illustrated this phenomenon.

Cheval des Andes is a bold venture, a wine made in LVMH's Argentine Terrazas de los Andes bodega in Luján de Cuyo but with input from...