Alexandre Jouveaux (Uchizy)vdtd France - 08 (on pense qui il et un Pinot Noir)
Initial note of smokey bacon crisps, some raspberry (framboise liquor notes), nice depth of fruit character, some lovely rasping cherry tinged tannins, still the smokey bacon crisp note is a little persuasive through to the back of the palette (hopefully it'll go once food is involved)
Catena Zapata (Nicolas) 08 - 78% Cab S 22% Malbec
And then to finish off with something a little it different (sorry I meant unpleasant) Altos Las Hormigas (Vista Flores, Valle de Uco, Mendoza) 06.
Well this is 100% Malbec, 36 months in new French oak and boy does it show - for the record I'm told this is between 35-40 Euros trade so 80 on a shelf, and in it's defence you can see exactly where the money went.
Initially there is a chunk of new oak, an almost confected amount, dark fruit, quite chunky, but weighty tannins, more of a body builder than a sportsman in build. Sorry this left me rather cold, I guess I might be slightly biased but I found it tiring. So much deep dark fruit, so much in the palette.
That said, it's opening up a bit as I'm getting into it, now showing minty herbal notes, but it's just so much like hard work..
3 comments:
Would that Malbec be better after a couple of years?
You tend to get some integration of oak and wine related tannins after a few years. It'll certainly be better, though whether it'll ever fully live up to what I'd hope the price demands I don't know.
Actually what upsets me most is that it's always the best parcels that get picked late and then destroyed in this sort of manner, I'd love to see the grapes from this wine, picked a week earlier and then allowed to express themselves in some old oak... I'm sure it'd be much more expressive than what they're currently making. (rant over)
Always good to get an experts opinion! I was sent a bottle of Malbec the other day that was actually pretty ok considering it is meant to retail at £8. Went nicely with a steak. It'd been in oak for six months though so wasn't to heavy, though I suspect if you had too much the tannins would kick the back of your head in on it's own.
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