Price: $9.99Region: Argentina
Year: 2008
I still have one bottle of wine I purchased at the wine tasting party a few weeks back, but it is a bottle I am looking forward to, so I plan on saving it for a rainy day. Actually, there have been a lot of rainy days lately, so I'll save it for a special dinner if I can. This past weekend didn't happen to be one of those special dinners. In fact, it was very much like a few Friday have been recently, which is fine by me. A simple pizza and wine dinner. I walked into the wine store that is on my way home, and had it in my mind that I was going to get a wine from South Africa. Not sure why, it was just something I hadn't had in a while. After a few minutes, nothing really stood out, so I walk a little further down the aisle to where the Argentinian wines were located. There is always a large selection of well priced wines in this section, especially Malbecs. This isn't a wine I have a whole lot of experience with, but the ones I have tried have been pretty good. There wasn't anything that made this particular wine jump out, but it was good as any at $10.
So, when I got home and got settled, I sat down with a couple of slices of pizza and a glass of Malbec. As has always been the case, this wine was very dark red, and had great clarity. There was nothing weak looking about this wine. The Malbec's I have had always remind me of a Cabernet Sauvignon while in the glass. Next, I gave my glass a swirl, and took a sniff. The smell was just as bold as the color, with a bit of spiciness to it. It almost reminded me of an earthy Shiraz, which is always a good thing in my book. At this point, I has hoping for the best. Unfortunately, when it came to the most important attribute (in my opinion anyway), it fell a bit short. I mean that literally. I was kind of surprised that the structure was a bit thin, and a bit short as well. The flavor just didn't hang around for long. The taste seemed to go immediately to the back of the throat, was a little bitter, and then faded quickly. All in all it wasn't a bad tasting wine, just not smooth as the look and smell would have led me to believe. I'll try a few Malbec's over the next couple of months and see if I can find a better choice.
Rating: 3.0 (Will search for a better Malbec)
2 comments:
Too bad about the structure there. I usually recommend Argentine Malbec to Cabernet and Merlot drinkers when they want to try something a little bolder, which seems to be the appeal for you as well...It’s similar to a Cabernet in its tannins and fullness of flavor, but there’s a complexity there as well (granted, not all Malbecs have that complexity down). I would definitely continue your search though -- there are plenty of $10-15 Malbecs out there worth trying. I'd even say that most of the budget brands from Australia, Chile, and Argentina (the home turf of our Don Miguel Gascón Malbec) really hold their weight against more expensive Cabs and Merlots.
I missed your comment somehow, but appeciate the input. I'll definitely be on the lookout, and will be trying another one soon...
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