EAST COAST PALATE

Last night I went down to YES! on Georgia Avenue to open a couple bottles of good wine out of Argentina's Mendoza region.  I always have fun doing this kind of thing because I can talk to a lot of people about wine, and often I'm able to try something new. 

The 2009 San Telmo Esencia Torrontes:  this grape varietal is indiginous to Argentina, and can produce a wine that often has tropical fruit, citrus, or floral aromas.  This particular bottle fit exactly that profile for me.  Smelling it, there's an orange blossom component that jumps out.  There's also some heat on the nose coming from the 13.5% alcohol content.  The wine has a zing to it, a bite that is slightly bitter, as if I were biting into a flower petal.  Simultaneously there is a lush feel that it creates in the mouth and the finish allows the flavors to linger quite a while.  This wine gets 87 points from me, and it costs $9... I will be drinking more of this wine in the future.
The 2008 Terrazas de los Andes Malbec ($10) has a very floral aroma, as if there were a bouquet of lilies near me while my nose was in the glass.  The wine has a beautiful deep purple color, and with the flowery smells, there are prune and cherry notes that lend to this wine's alomst sangria-like fruity aroma.  The body of the wine is light.  It's not very tannic, and the fruit and berry flavors come through immediately, leading into a floral finish.  I'd prefer a Malbec with more structure, a little more "umph" to it, but for ten bucks it's not a bad bottle to pick up to take to a party.  I'll rate this wine an 84.  It's tasty, but I think people who prefer bigger bolder wine will be bore by this one.

For a young wine, harvested only about eight months ago, this Malbec delivers some really nice aromas and flavors.  It is a light bodied wine, dominated by a very strong candy scent that sets the palate up for some fruity, cherry flavors.  There is a slight smell of leather and nuts, and bit of a tannic bite on the back end of the wine.  This wine from Mendoza, Argentina is inexpensive and shows a younger, simpler version of how well some of the South American Malbecs are made.  I tried this wine at 1 West Wine, down in Dupont Circle, where it was on sale for $13.  It gets a solid B, and I'll probably buy this wine again.  It really is a good bottle for a Tuesday night. It would would go well with a burger, a baked potato or some spaghetti.

I decided last night to try two Malbecs side by side.  The prospect of this tasting had me excited, ready for a good matchup of two bottles of the hottest grape varietal around.  Then I opened these bottles and smelled each contender.  This is when things started to go downhill. 
The 2008 Elsa Bianchi, from Argentina ($12), had a faintly chemical aroma that masked the little grape and blueberry that was barely present.  The wine in my mouth started smooth and fruity, but quickly dissolved into a bitter aftertaste.  Overall it lacks any complexity and is a B- at best.
The 2005 Pigmentum Malbec from France wasn't much better...it's aroma was a nice, resiny mixture of dry fruits and dusty plums.  It had a little bit more of a tannic structure than the Elsa Bianchi, but lacked any finish and was for me equally disappointing.  For $12, this Malbec really didn't give me my money's worth, either.
I was hyped up about this flight, but it turned out to be like watching a soccer match that ends in a 0-0 tie.  I remember working at Syzygy in Walla Walla, WA, standing on the edges of binfuls of fermenting Malbec and the smells rising up to me as I punched down (just a mixing up of the grape skins and juice) the cap of grapes into the juice as it fermentened.  There is something about malbec that is lush and sensuous and sexy when it is made right, but neither of the wines tried last night really did much for me.

A good "halloween wine" would maybe  be a good way to describe this wine.  Or maybe just good Tuesday night wine with a bowl of stew or a grilled chicken salad. 
The lightness of the 2006 La Bruja malbec makes it very versitile for pairing with different dishes, but on its own this wine is lacking the body and balance to make it a great wine.  The color is a dark vibrant purple, and it delivers those delicious classic malbec aromas like prunes, plums, sweat-soaked strawberries, and Pixistix/Fun Dip sweetness.  I also picked up some sawdust and black olive.  The smell of this wine adds more to the whole than the taste and structure.  In your mouth this wine is a gushing fruit bomb that vanishes within a half-second.  The void stays there a few seconds before the tannins catch back up and dry out your gums.  Maybe the disappearing act is a part of the wine's witchcraft, hence the name.  Anyway, I love the way it smells, but don't like the way it behaves.  For me it's a B- kind of wine, but worth try at $15.

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.