Since I'm planning on make wine from Chilean Malbec this spring (see post), I decided to do some competitive intelligence and reverse engineering on some commercial malbecs. I went to a couple of local wine stores and purchased 3 bottles of Malbec in the $10-$25 price range. I was a little disappointed that all I could find was Argentinian Malbec (even when the shelf at the Acton Wine & Spirits was proudly labeled "Chilean Wine"). Yes, I know that's two different countries, let alone wine growing regions, but I reasoned that both regions are located in high altitude arid valleys, so the resulting wine should be similar enough for my purposes. I started opening the wines this week, and will report on each in turn.
Terrazas Malbec 2006 (Wine Spectator ranking: 88 pts)
Cost: $10.99 at Westford Liquor
Country: Argentina
Region: Mendoza
Altitude: 1067 meters (3500 ft) above sea level
Stats: 13.5% ABV, pH = 3.70, total acidity = 4.05 g/L
Appearance: Deep, dark purple--very hard to see through with nice long legs.
Aroma: Big fruity nose with loads of blackberries, cassis, and plums. There's a background smell that I'm still trying to figure out if it was toasty oak or mold.
Taste: Fruit forward with initial broad blackberry. Mellow tannins with a hint of vanilla. Ended rather abruptly with a flat finish and not much lingering after taste.
I tried the wine again the next day after it had sat for ~18 hours under a vacuvin seal and found a good improvement. The aeration brought out a little more tannin pucker, but I still missed the finish. Overall, a nice inexpensive wine, but rather forgettable. I think the addition of a little tartaric acid to give the finish a bit of a bite would go a long way in improving this wine.
Salute,
a Wine Student
