Malbec Redeems Itself, Not That It Needed To

The story: Yesterday I made fun of Malbec. I subsequently got accused of having no idea what I'm talking about. Let's get two things straight right now. I DO have no idea what I am talking about. If you are reading this blog for an expert wine opinion then Google has failed you, and you should read my About section before proceeding. Second, I think malbec from Argentina generally offers a good quality product at an affordable price. I am not that surprised that it has grown in sales at a rate far exceeding any other single varietal bottling over the last couple of years in the U.S. But I do think, like many other things in wine, that this is a trend, a bandwagon, a bit of marketing mixed with a nice product, a good price point that got lucky during a difficult economic time. However it is still delicious and usually well worth the money spent, so out of respect for the grape and the people of Argentina I popped and poured an inexpensive bottle last night. I guess that makes the last two weeks a bit Malbec heavy on The Vino File, but it is up 5x's in import volume right?

The wine: I cracked a Naiara Malbec 2008 from Mendoza, Argentina and fearing that a mediocre wine at this point would only further my conundrum poured a couple of ounces into my glass. The wine was a dark partly opaque purple at its core, fading to a ruby red at the edge of the glass. It had a tight nose initially with some red raspberry, cinnamon, a touch of vanilla oak, and just a hint of alcohol. The wine had a lot of heavy red fruit up front, a little bit of a hollow mid-palette, and some nice medium spice on the finish. This wine comes across as quite young with quite firm tannins and a bit of a harsh plum skin aspect to the finish. However, it is only a 2008 and both the slight heat on the nose, the mid-palette, and the grippiness may mellow with a bit more time in the bottle.

The verdict: I'm going to allow this Malbec to step on my joke, as the wine is more important than the lame and sarcastic attempts at humor. This wine was enjoyable for the price (retails for around $10-$12) and while I wish I could wait on it a little bit it still earns a 3 out of 5. It is a great example of why Malbec has the reputation that it has.

This experience makes me wonder, what if I had made fun of Reisling?