Rio Seco - Malbec

Price: $14
Region: Argentina
Year: 2008

As I was driving home this past Friday, I knew I already had a half of a bottle of wine waiting for me when I got home. I'll review that bottle another time, but in addition to that bottle, my wife had stopped by the store on her way home from work, and grabbed me this bottle of Malbec. Since I didn't need it Friday, I saved it for Saturday dinner. Saturday ended up being a fairly long day as I took my son and some of his friends to play paintball for his 14th birthday. When I got home, I had a buffalo chicken wrap, and a bottle of Malbec waiting for me. After running around in the woods all day shooting paint at people, it was nice to sit down and relax with a glass of red wine.

Since the big bold red wine are usually my favorite, I was looking forward to giving this one a try. I really have enjoyed most Malbecs that I have tried, so I was hoping this one would be no different. The first glass was poured, and at first sight, I was definitely not disappointed. This wine was very dark, almost like black cherry in color. Things just kept getting better because the aroma was very nice indeed. it had a nice strong fruit smell, and really the black cherry was starting to become a common thread. As I took a sip, I really got the feeling that the wine was very slow to develop. It didn't come right out and hit you, but slowly built up to a wondering flavor with a great finish. As with the smell, I could really taste the fruit in this wine. I really do think black cherry is how I could best describe what I tasted. There was really a lot to like about this wine, so I poured my wife a small glass, and she agreed. This wine is definitely worth a try, but it does seem hard to find a bad Malbec, especially if you put out a couple more dollars and go for one in the $12-$14 range. This one for sure, is worth it.

Rating: 3.75 corks (Gotta try it)

Ercavio - Tempranillo Roble

Price: $12.99
Region: Spain
Year: 2007

I think I am going to have to take a day off one of these days if I ever want to catch up on my backlog of reviews. I've had a couple of decent wines the last couple of weeks, and I've surely skipped a few that I'd like to review, but it is always easiest for me to pick one that is relatively fresh in my mind, so here goes. I had been to the wine store the weekend before last, and grabbed a couple of extra bottles because I knew work was going to keep me pretty busy during the upcoming week, and wasn't sure if I'd find the time. I walked around for quite a while on Saturday afternoon, and eventually found myself in the Spanish wines aisle. There was a decent sale going on, and for some reason this one caught my eye at a dollar or two off. I've had good success with Tempranillo in the past, so I was hoping to find another gem.

We didn't have anything special for dinner, just a few burgers and fries from our local hamburger joint (5 Guys), but it is always a tasty meal. After a long day of running around for my son's 11th birthday party, I was ready to unwind a bit with a glass of wine. I noticed at first glance, that the wine had a very nice clarity too it. I would say the color was a dark red, but not quite a Cab or Shiraz. As I usually do, I gave the glass a good swirl, and then a few quick sniffs, and found it was a bit fainter than I was expecting. It did however, have an interesting hint of vanilla. I would say it was fairly pleasant, but a little more of the aroma wouldn't have hurt. At this point, I would say I was pretty middle of the road in my expectations. Nothing blew me away yet, but nothing caused a red flag to go up either. When I took a sip, what hit me was the fact the wine had very good length. The taste went from the front of the mouth, all the way to the back of the tongue, and was pretty smooth to boot. I wouldn't say I was jumping up and down over the flavor, but I did notice a bot of the vanilla I smelled earlier. I think it was a bit off of the beaten path, but sometimes that is a good thing. Definitely worth a try if you want to take a break from the same old thing.

Rating: 3.25 corks (Worth a shot)