2007 Catena Malbec

Hello everyone! We had this wine last night with chicken tacos. The tacos were a little on the too hot side, so we weren't really able to fully appreciate the wine until after dinner. Fortunately, it was even better for opening a little longer. The color was a deep inky purple red. On the nose there was cherry, vanilla and a little smokey tobacco. On the palate there was blueberry and cherry followed by soft, smooth tannins and bright (but not too bright) acids. On the finish there was tobacco, licorice and bitter chocolate. The finish was long and lingering. It had a beautiful, silky texture and great complexity. I paid about $18 for this at Total Wines in Atlanta. It was a fabulous wine and I wish I had more of it.

2007 Ona Anakena Malbec Limited Edition

Hello all!! I should preface this by saying that I'm really not a big malbec fan. They tend to be a little too big for my palate. Also, we don't do a lot of barbeque, tending to eat foods and drink wines that are either Italian or French in style and flavor profile. But, my husband, Al, has always had a soft spot for the malbec and syrah wines that I tend to avoid. So, I asked my son, Mike, to bring one up from Atlanta Total Wine has a catalog, so I picked one out and Mike brought it to me on his last trip to Knoxville. We were having barbeque pork on Labor Day and I thought this malbec would be a good pairing. And it was good with the barbeque. I could also see having this with a big roast in the winter. The color on this wine was an extremely dark inky purple. There was a lot going on with the nose. It started out with some pretty heavy oak, but this faded within a half hour or so of opening. The nose opened into dark currents, mulch, and spicy cinnamon and cloves with a bit of violet in the background. On the palate there was the intense jammy dark fruit flavor of currents and blackberry. The tannins were firm and a little harsh. There was lots of bitter chocolate and a bit of tobacco, especially on the finish. It was weak on the mid-palate, which seems odd considering the overall intensity of this wine. I believe this wine would be much better after a few years in the bottle (I'm developing a preference for red wines at about 5 years or more), but I'm not convinced that age will solve the problem in the mid-palate. I think I'll try another malbec next time.