Made from grapes lovingly harvested from vineyards in the Andes, approximately 3000 ft. in elevation and from vines descended from the Ancients. But alas it’s all for naught. It’s a mouthful of sour.
Fresh but thin on the palate, with a background of wood hints and reticent chocolate. Bright acidity emerges at midpalate providing a juicy moment, but it turns tart without generating life or interest. The sourness continues on the finish with soft tannins that don’t provide sufficient counter-weight. A versatile food wine but there is not enough pleasure for sipping. This is not what you want from Malbec.
The nose is pleasant enough—blueberry with some red fruit inflections, loam and a vanilla halo. But the wine feels tense and uneasy with understated hostility like Bloc Party’s Banquet.
If I were painting a portrait of a quintessential inexpensive crowd pleaser, this would be it. Tasty, polished, charming—your local spa should hire it as a greeter.
Blueberry shares the spotlight with an unusually robust floral dimension against a subtle earth background—simple but pleasant.
The palate features very round berry flavors cossetted by milk chocolate. Despite being a bit thin, a silky, polished mouthfeel and evolution give the wine a blithe, understated elegance wrapping up with a short, tame finish that doesn’t detract from the wine’s impact.
Ignore the “old vines” claim on the label. It legally means nothing. High production wines are seldom harvested from genuinely old vines.
Effortless “niceness” I think captures the personality. Niceness can be overrated as a moral category but in a $10 wine I’ll take it. Pair with Your Love is King by Sade
The original home for Malbec, Cahors in Southwestern France has a reputation for dark tannic wines that need bottle age before drinking. This wine is a remarkable departure, mineral driven with mostly bright, red fruit on a medium frame.
Cranberry and blackberry aromas share space with intriguing pine and rose notes. The palate shows juicy, plump red fruit upfront but quickly condenses into a more angular, stony midpalate. The medium grain tannins are late to arrive and stay in the background giving the wine a tart finish laced with refreshing citrus notes. A bit coarse but It has good length for a wine in this price category.
A complex personality, folksy, generally optimistic but wearing a sardonic grin like Bob Dylan’s Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You
Technical Notes: From organically-grown, 50 yr. old vines, native yeasts used in fermentation, the blend included 5% Tannat, unfiltered
Öko is a brand of the Prestige Beverage Group, specializing in the marketing of organic wines.
There are some nice wines occupying the organic niche. I doubt that organic grapes taste differently from healthy, conventionally grown grapes. But I do think producers who emphasize their organic credentials tend to make wines that have a simple, fresh profile without a lot of oak treatments or juice concentrate. They tend to make wines that fit their image. This Malbec from Mendoza which includes 15% Bonarda in the blend is no exception.
Blueberry, floral highlights, and some green bell pepper that mingles with occasional smoke hints make up the simple aroma profile. This wine earns it keep on the palate which is buoyed by fresh red plum which hangs on through a drying, slightly abrasive finish, displaying prominent white pepper notes at its terminus.
This is a lean wine that lacks depth and concentration but there is enough fresh, juicy character to make it palatable.
An average wine but not without charm.
The music must be restrained but tuneful with a sense of innocence or naiveté, The Fleet Foxes Bedouin Dress
A quintessential supermarket wine, soft, approachable, and flawless with juicy flavors and enough acidity to keep you refreshed.
“Oak Cask” is Trapiche’s entry level line. But despite the name this Malbec is not overoaked.
Plum, subtle toast, and a hint of licorice on the nose. Black cherry and chocolate emerges on the round, medium-weight palate which features fine-grained tannins that sneak up on you, and firm acidity on the finish. It’s linear with a short finish but excellent quality for the price. You can take it (amost) anywhere without embarrassment.
Advertised as barrel aged for 9 months.
Score: 88
Price: $10
Alc: 14%
An Alicia Keys type wine, rich, approachable, flawless and oh so commercial
Cahors is a small appellation east of Bordeaux and best known as the sole remaining French redoubt of Malbec, which makes up at least 70% of the blend, supplemented by Tannat and Merlot. We don’t see Cahors much in the U.S. unless you chase it down, but it’s worth pursuing if only because the expression of Malbec is significantly different from the more common Argentinean Malbec. Argentinean Malbecs are typically soft, full bodied, and fruity. Cahors Malbecs are savory and meaty with firm tannins.
This bottling is worth checking out. The nose is reticent when first opened but complex and pleasant with chocolate kissed by cinnamon highlighting the blackberry aromas, with red currant, thyme and damp forest wood adding to the olfactory chorus. In the mouth, the initial blackberry disappears under a barrage of racy acidity that sends flavors of thyme, cola, and charred wood hurtling across the palate. The texture is an undulating wash. You sense movement more than a static mouthfeel, with a medium length finish propelled by acid and licorice notes, the tannins nicely round and supporting. This wine has loads of personality. The liveliness on the palate is compelling with acid pushing the upper bound.
Now for the odd part. I haven’t a clue about this winery. There is no information about it. However the back label translated reads “bottled at the Chateau by Chateau de Chambert”, a respected producer of quality Cahors. The Internet droppings suggest that Bevmo is its primary retail outlet. Perhaps we’re looking at a private label. At any rate, this is a good wine; grab it when you see it.
The energy in this wine reminds me of one of the great road songs of 70’s from the Dutch band Golden Earring:
The quality of Malbec coming out of Argentina can be uneven, but this one is flat-out gorgeous.
Sumptuous dark, berry aromas are bolstered with raisin, and lightly-charred oak, packed with dill, dried herbs and floral notes to top it off. Interesting and complex. The lush, soft, round palate adds chocolate to the picture. Despite the ripeness of the fruit, the wine is not ponderous but has sufficient acidity to give it a racy aspect. The tannins are ripe and smooth with a short but pleasant finish. 12-14 months on 50% new French oak.
Graceful yet sexy, a real crowd pleaser. If you need a wine to take to a party this is an excellent choice.
Sometimes there really is a perfect match of wine and song—the carnal energy of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On is just right.
Purple highlights in the glass give away the varietal. There is blackberry and a stealthy invasion of funky earth on the nose, just enough to remind you this is an agricultural product. Some brambly thyme notes and cranberry light up the the mid-palate. A hint of sweetness, but plenty of spice and character to keep sappy impressions to a minimum. Medium plus body with good, sharp acidity but it has the fruit to keep it balanced. The tannins are reticent but when they appear the finish become just a little coarse and rustic–in a good way.
I really like this wine at this price. Lots of dimension and balanced flavor. The literature from the producer claims 10 months in French and American Oak, 80% new. That is unusual for a wine in this price range.
Smoking Loon has fallen off my radar in recent years; this wine suggests I need to become reacquainted. This is one of Don Sebastiani and Sons’ labels—a large producer of supermarket wines. When you find a good one, it makes plowing through the plonk worthwhile.
To accompany this wine, you’ll want some shit-kickin’ music with a touch of class. How about some Bonnie Raitt?
Malbec from Argentina may be the hot new grape but in Cahors, a region in Southwest France, they’ve been growing it since the Romans ruled. Although originally a Bordeaux varietal, the Bordelais gave up on the grape after the 1956 frost killed off most of the vines. But the folks in Cahors soldier on with this difficult grape and succeed in making some remarkable wines. Fresh, soft, and fruit-forward when grown in Argentina, in Cahors, Malbec is savory and meaty with surprisingly robust tannins for a thin-skinned grape.
This Clos La Coutale is no exception. Red licorice, olives, and cardamom on the nose. With aeration, cedar notes gain prominence. The medium-bodied palate shows blueberry enlivened by medium plus acidity with sandy tannins that are beginning to back off after a few years in the bottle. Excellent depth and focus make this an interesting wine for the price but some tartness and bitterness mar the rustic finish. 80% Malbec and 20% Merlot, this wine has so much personality, even its flaws are loveable. If you’re part of the Malbec craze, this gem puts some of the lesser Argentinean pretenders to shame.
It is estimated that about 40% of world-wide wine exports are shipped in bulk. The grapes are harvested and the wine made in its home country and then is put in huge 24,000 liter plastic bladders to be shipped across the world and bottled closer to where it will be sold. Shipping in bulk is cheaper and produces fewer carbon emissions than shipping in bottles. And it’s better for the wine too. Bulk wine is less likely to experience temperature fluctuations because a single large volume of liquid will not change temperature as quickly as a small volume. Of course, who knows how many distinct labels will sell the very same wine—but who cares if it’s under $10. It’s generic wine.
Such is the case with the cutely-named V.No Malbec. Grapes harvested in Mendoza, bottled in Acampo California by Constellation Brands.
And in the end, it’s OK. Nondescript but pleasant and very drinkable. A murky nose with indistinct fruit and loam and without much intensity. But on the palate, plenty of dark fruit and allspice, very well balanced, round, medium bodied with soft tannins and some prominent acidity on the finish that gives it zing. For a budget wine this is quite good, not a hair out of place, and unless you are an aroma hound very satisfying.
Made from grapes lovingly harvested from vineyards in the Andes, approximately 3000 ft. in elevation and from vines descended from the Ancients. But alas it’s all for naught. It’s a mouthful of sour.
