| Malbec Tasting Report |
While researching all the different types of food that pair
brilliantly with Malbec wines, I became shocked by the large
variety of items to choose from. I also became very curious,
which led to me preparing quite an assortment of food for our
Malbec wine tasting. I had a tomato-basil and five-cheese
pizza, sweet Italian turkey and Cajun spicy sausages with deli
style mustard for good measure. I also threw in Tamales and
a tomato-basil couscous and an assortment of three cheeses
that included, Manchego, savory smoked Cheddar and
Havarti. I know, I went a little overboard, but I wanted to
really test the Malbec food and wine pairing ideas I found in
my research.
For the most part, they did seem to pair very well with the
wines, especially, surprise, the (beef) tamales. I wouldn’t have
guessed that, but the tamales melded well with all of the
flavors in Malbec wines. Something to consider for future
wine and food endeavors. Now, not all of the food and
Malbec wines were a great match. Some did not pair well with
anything but your standard cheese plate, but it was still quite
an adventure none-the-less. The Budini Malbec was the one
wine of the evening that went extremely well with everything.
Okay, on to the important part of this page, the wines. We
tasted seven examples of Malbec, two from Cahors, France
and the rest from Argentina. The first wine from Cahors was
very much the stereotypical, Cahors gritty sandpaper style of
wine, but the second, Clos La Coutale (Clos means ‘enclosed
by a brick wall ‘ in French) was a different story altogether. It
was quite lovely and had great structure. It was the second
highest scoring wine on my list behind the Catena Malbec.
(You’ll see by the scores below just how little influence I have
over the rest of the group). The Argentina wines for the most
part were the biggest success stories of the evening, which
really wasn’t a surprise. What I thought was very interesting
though, was that the top-scoring wine, the Ben Marco, tasted
very much like a ”Young French Bordeaux” wine. So even
though our panel preferred the Argentina wines to the French
ones, they picked a wine that was more similar in style to a
French wine as their favorite. Ha! I get the last laugh again!
I should mention that all of the top five scoring wines had
scores that were extremely close and I would be really hard
pressed not to recommend the top four to anyone looking for
a very good Malbec wine. Check out our scores and notes
and then try one out soon for yourself!
brilliantly with Malbec wines, I became shocked by the large
variety of items to choose from. I also became very curious,
which led to me preparing quite an assortment of food for our
Malbec wine tasting. I had a tomato-basil and five-cheese
pizza, sweet Italian turkey and Cajun spicy sausages with deli
style mustard for good measure. I also threw in Tamales and
a tomato-basil couscous and an assortment of three cheeses
that included, Manchego, savory smoked Cheddar and
Havarti. I know, I went a little overboard, but I wanted to
really test the Malbec food and wine pairing ideas I found in
my research.
For the most part, they did seem to pair very well with the
wines, especially, surprise, the (beef) tamales. I wouldn’t have
guessed that, but the tamales melded well with all of the
flavors in Malbec wines. Something to consider for future
wine and food endeavors. Now, not all of the food and
Malbec wines were a great match. Some did not pair well with
anything but your standard cheese plate, but it was still quite
an adventure none-the-less. The Budini Malbec was the one
wine of the evening that went extremely well with everything.
Okay, on to the important part of this page, the wines. We
tasted seven examples of Malbec, two from Cahors, France
and the rest from Argentina. The first wine from Cahors was
very much the stereotypical, Cahors gritty sandpaper style of
wine, but the second, Clos La Coutale (Clos means ‘enclosed
by a brick wall ‘ in French) was a different story altogether. It
was quite lovely and had great structure. It was the second
highest scoring wine on my list behind the Catena Malbec.
(You’ll see by the scores below just how little influence I have
over the rest of the group). The Argentina wines for the most
part were the biggest success stories of the evening, which
really wasn’t a surprise. What I thought was very interesting
though, was that the top-scoring wine, the Ben Marco, tasted
very much like a ”Young French Bordeaux” wine. So even
though our panel preferred the Argentina wines to the French
ones, they picked a wine that was more similar in style to a
French wine as their favorite. Ha! I get the last laugh again!
I should mention that all of the top five scoring wines had
scores that were extremely close and I would be really hard
pressed not to recommend the top four to anyone looking for
a very good Malbec wine. Check out our scores and notes
and then try one out soon for yourself!
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| Ben Marco Malbec 2001 – Mendoza, Argentina |
Nose: Masculine cigar box aromas of tobacco,
leather, anise and cedar.
Taste: Superbly smooth and refined with a
buttery, full-bodied mouth-feel. Shows more dark
fruits than red with the likes of blackberries and
cassis.
Comments: If you like young Bordeaux style
wines, this one is for you! Nice structure and
very sophisticated. I’m not ready to serve this
with fish or even poultry, but the rest of the items
on our food pairing page are fair game.
leather, anise and cedar.
Taste: Superbly smooth and refined with a
buttery, full-bodied mouth-feel. Shows more dark
fruits than red with the likes of blackberries and
cassis.
Comments: If you like young Bordeaux style
wines, this one is for you! Nice structure and
very sophisticated. I’m not ready to serve this
with fish or even poultry, but the rest of the items
on our food pairing page are fair game.
| $19.99 |
| Score - B+ |
| Budini Malbec 2002 – Mendoza, Argentina |
Nose: Fresh and fragrant sweet red fruits and
stewed plums.
Taste: Zipity and lively fruit flavors like sweet
cherries, plums and raspberries with mint accents
on the finish.
Comments: Wow, this is a fun wine, full of easy
drinking lively fruit flavors. Even the label is
cool! It lacks the structure and tannins to give it
age ability, so drink it young. However, because
it is short on tannins and rich in fruit flavors, it is
by far the most versatile food wine in our tasting
report and the first I could see drinking with
everything on our food and wine pairing page,
including fish. I bet it would be a blast with
Tandoori chicken.
stewed plums.
Taste: Zipity and lively fruit flavors like sweet
cherries, plums and raspberries with mint accents
on the finish.
Comments: Wow, this is a fun wine, full of easy
drinking lively fruit flavors. Even the label is
cool! It lacks the structure and tannins to give it
age ability, so drink it young. However, because
it is short on tannins and rich in fruit flavors, it is
by far the most versatile food wine in our tasting
report and the first I could see drinking with
everything on our food and wine pairing page,
including fish. I bet it would be a blast with
Tandoori chicken.
| Score - B |
| From $10.00 to $12.00 |
| Catena Malbec 1999 Lunlunta Vineyards – Mendoza, Argentina |
Nose: Heavy oak shadings full of cedar and
spice.
Taste: Oak is upfront and center, but soon gives
way to earthy overtones with mellow red fruit
flavors. Turns hot (a burning sensation from high
alcohol) on the finish.
Comments: This was a wine that needed to open
up. More mature than the other wines, at first all
we could get on the nose and palate was oak and
alcohol. But true to form for Catena, once it had
time to breathe, it became wonderfully complex.
Most of the tasting panel members changed their
scores after they went back and re-tasted it. (It
was the first wine we tasted) Give it some time in
the glass and pair with red meats and sausages.
spice.
Taste: Oak is upfront and center, but soon gives
way to earthy overtones with mellow red fruit
flavors. Turns hot (a burning sensation from high
alcohol) on the finish.
Comments: This was a wine that needed to open
up. More mature than the other wines, at first all
we could get on the nose and palate was oak and
alcohol. But true to form for Catena, once it had
time to breathe, it became wonderfully complex.
Most of the tasting panel members changed their
scores after they went back and re-tasted it. (It
was the first wine we tasted) Give it some time in
the glass and pair with red meats and sausages.
| $19.99 |
| Score - B |
| Clos La Coutale 2000 – A.O.C. Cahors, France |
Nose: Rich nutty vanilla with mint and loam
fragrances
Taste: Great structure with all the right
components for aging. This Malbec shows plenty
of blackberries, cassis and coffee beans with just
the right doses of vanilla-laden oak.
Comments: I know this wine scored in the middle
of the pack, but given how close the scores were,
this Malbec did Cahors proud. Extremely well
made and I would love to buy another bottle and
stick it away for 10yrs to see what develops of it.
Serve it with the darker meats and tomato based
pastas.
fragrances
Taste: Great structure with all the right
components for aging. This Malbec shows plenty
of blackberries, cassis and coffee beans with just
the right doses of vanilla-laden oak.
Comments: I know this wine scored in the middle
of the pack, but given how close the scores were,
this Malbec did Cahors proud. Extremely well
made and I would love to buy another bottle and
stick it away for 10yrs to see what develops of it.
Serve it with the darker meats and tomato based
pastas.
| Score - B |
| $11.99 |
| Terrazas de Los Andes Alto Malbec 2001 – Mendoza, Argentina |
Nose: Sweet vanilla with feint accents of dried
cherries.
Taste: Too much vanilla and butter with very
small traces of dried red fruits on the finish.
Comments: Although there were some that liked
this wine, I thought it was too one-dimensional.
This would be a good wine to serve with cheese,
but I wouldn’t recommend it as a dinner wine
because of the high concentration of oak
flavorings.
cherries.
Taste: Too much vanilla and butter with very
small traces of dried red fruits on the finish.
Comments: Although there were some that liked
this wine, I thought it was too one-dimensional.
This would be a good wine to serve with cheese,
but I wouldn’t recommend it as a dinner wine
because of the high concentration of oak
flavorings.
| Score - B |
| $11.99 |
| Chateau Lagrezette Malbec 2000 – A.O.C. Cahors, France |
Nose: Earthy aromas with hints of dark
blackberries and cassis.
Taste: Very earthy and rustic. This young brut
of a Malbec was so thick and tannic, it strips the
enamel right off of your teeth.
Comments: If you read what I wrote about
Malbec wines from Cahors on the Wine of the
Month page, this was the perfect example. Give
it a few more years in the bottle and stick to thick
red meats for dinner with it.
blackberries and cassis.
Taste: Very earthy and rustic. This young brut
of a Malbec was so thick and tannic, it strips the
enamel right off of your teeth.
Comments: If you read what I wrote about
Malbec wines from Cahors on the Wine of the
Month page, this was the perfect example. Give
it a few more years in the bottle and stick to thick
red meats for dinner with it.
| Score - C+ |
| $18.99 |
| La Posta del vinatero Malbec 2002 Angel Paulucci Vineyard – Lujan De Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina |
Nose: Red fruit driven aromas followed up by
vanilla accents.
Taste: Rich cherries and stewed plums coat the
palate with an acidic ring that turns hot on the
finish.
Comments: This purple colored Malbec was very
young and perhaps needed more time to mature.
With that being said, I don’t think it had the
balance to give it long life in the cellar and it was
more thin-bodied than the rest. A good wine for
fowl and pork.
vanilla accents.
Taste: Rich cherries and stewed plums coat the
palate with an acidic ring that turns hot on the
finish.
Comments: This purple colored Malbec was very
young and perhaps needed more time to mature.
With that being said, I don’t think it had the
balance to give it long life in the cellar and it was
more thin-bodied than the rest. A good wine for
fowl and pork.
| Score - C+ |
| $14.99 |
| Ian, that's a can of Maxwell House, not a glass of wine! |
| Now I know why you kept stating every wine had hints of coffee on the nose! |
