Wine Tasting Dinner: Argentine Malbec
On Friday evening, we hosted our 60th wine tasting dinner. It was another fun evening of good wines, Mom’s excellent food, and the company of wonderful friends.
With the current state of the dollar and rising gas prices, most of us are looking to find some good deals. That’s the main reason why we selected Argentine Malbec for this month’s tasting. All six wines that we tasted come in under $20, and the winner rolls in under $10. Malbec is a varietal that is getting more and more attention and appeals to a wide variety of folks. It has a lot to offer. It is not as tannic as Cabernet Sauvignon but is spicier than Merlot
and goes well with a number of different foods. It paired wonderfully with Mom’s dinner of flank steak with pico di gallo and corn salsa, Spanish rice, and sautéed vegetables.
Paul Gregutt, Wine Adviser for the Seattle Times, recently wrote a couple articles touting Argentine Malbec. All of the wines in this tasting were on his recommended list from April 9th.
For the most part, my rankings are generally close to the group consensus rankings. In this tasting, however, my personal favorite finished fourth. While the last two wines were disappointing, I don’t feel that you can go wrong with any of the top four.
From 1st to last in the group consensus rankings:
2006 Altas Cumbres Malbec: Spicy and jammy. Smooth, not too bold.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Esquin (Seattle), $9.99, Available elsewhere, $7.99
2006 Punto Final Malbec: Lots of red fruits, especially cherries and strawberries come through on both the nose and the palate. A hint of peppermint is present on the mid-palate.
Quality: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Esquin (Seattle), $11.99, Available elsewhere, $9 to $14
2007 Altos Las Hormigas Malbec: A bit spicy with flavors of beef jerky and cinnamon. A little rough now, should get better with age.
Quality: 3 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 4 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Pete’s Wine Shop – Eastside (Seattle area), $9.29, Available elsewhere, $8 to $13
2005 Melipal Malbec: My favorite of the evening. Very complex with lots of dried fruit and black olive flavors. Also has an attractive smoky component coming through on the nose.
Quality: 3 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 1 bang for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Esquin (Seattle), $19.99, Available elsewhere, $14 to $20
2005 Tomero Malbec
Quality: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: NR (not recommended)
Where to buy: Esquin (Seattle), $14.99
2005 Andeluna Winemaker’s Selection Malbec
Quality: 1 star (out of 5)
QPR: NR (not recommended)
Where to buy: Esquin (Seattle), $12.99
This event, held last weekend at the Dempsey Indoor on the University of Washington campus, brought together two of my favorite things, Huskies and wine. As a graduate of the University of Washington, I am a tried and true Husky fan. In fact one of my favorite pastimes is attending UW sporting events with my family. So an event that features wine and supports the Huskies is right up my alley. In its third year,
As with any event like this, it is impossible to taste all of the wines offered. So Colby and I chose to visit the booths for wineries whose wines we had not previously tasted or had not tasted in a long time. We made a few discoveries and look forward to picking up some bottles and adding them to our blind-tasting lineup to see how they stack up against some of our proven favorites.
Our most exciting discovery of the day was
We followed the same format as last time for the tasting. All four of us Wine Peeps got together one afternoon, put all 13 bottles out on the table and tasted them one-by-one, discussing them as we went.
This blog is for busy people who enjoy wine and want to be savvy wine consumers, but who do not have the time or inclination to do the research themselves. We want to be your Wine Peeps. As a regular reader of this blog, we hope that you will learn everything you need to know about selecting, tasting, and enjoying good wine. You’ll be able to impress your friends with your knowledge of wine. 