Category: Malbec

Argentina, Malbec, Mendoza, Red blends, Red wine

Cuvelier Los Andes Coleccion 2005

Vera C.

Winemaker: Adrian Manchon (consulting: Michel Rolland)

Grape: 62% Malbec, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 8% Syrah and 3% PetitVerdot.
Region: Mendoza, Argentina

This wine is only one of 3 wines produced by this Bodega. You might also want to look for:
CUVELIER LOS ANDES GRAN VIN (higher percentage of Malbec in the blend, longer aging – 2005 vintage received 94 points from R. Parker)

CUVELIER LOS ANGES GRAND MALBEC (100% Malbec, best selection, 2005 vintage got 91+ from Tanzer, 94 from R. Parker)

 

Bertrand and Jean-Guy Cuvelier, owners of this property, also own Château Leoville-Poyferre in St Juilen in the heart of the Mèdoc and Château Le Crock in Saint Estèphe in Mèdoc, Bordeaux. Their art of blending and an experience with high quality Bordeaux wines comes well in use in Argentina as well.

They can work here with highest quality Malbec in the foothills of the Andes, at 1000 meters above the sea level. As the season of France and Argentina are in an opposite, it is a great opportunity to produce different wine projects at two different parts of the world.

The grapes for this blend undergo extensive selection at the sorting tables. They are than led by gravity to thermo-regulated small stainless steel tanks and go through a cold maceration process before fermentation begins.

Wine aged for 12 months in French oak barrels. Cuvelier Los Andes wines are neither fined, nor filtered in order to guarantee greatest expression of the fruit and its natural potential.

Tasting notes:
Intense purple-red color coating glass, promising a big body. Very rich aroma of rip red fruit, ripe plums, red and black raspberries, and spice of the oak. To decant this baby is a must! Don’t spill any on you though… that stain may never go away.

On the palate it is generous yet smooth, strong expression of rich Malbec and Cabernet. Muscular and sexy red that will give you a seductive, lingering finish. This wine will age gracefully if you prefer to lay it down for a few more years.

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: around $ 20.00

Ideal food pairing:
Steaks, Lamb burgers, dark meats as game, Beef chorizo, Flank steak with shitakee sauce

Argentina, Malbec, Organic, Red wine

Yellow+Blue Organic Malbec

Vera C.


Grape: 100% Malbec
Region: San Juan Province, Argentina

This is my first and only wine I recommend here that didn’t come from a bottle. Yeah, I am one of those wine snobs that would never touch wine that came from cardboard. Well, until I tried this one. Let me explain why I liked it and what makes it so different.

When you combine yellow and blue color, you will get a green. That’s how Yellow+Blue got it’s name. Not only is this wine organically grown – which means natural, no use of chemicals, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Yellow+Blue wines are certified organic throughout the entire growing, winemaking and packaging process — from start to finish.

If you don’t care about that, you may be interested to know that it fits more wine and weights much less than a regular bottle of wine. Therefore it also saves you money. A lot of money. That’s why you can buy it cheaper.

I don’t believe that this is the end of wine in traditional bottles, that’s a nonsense. When I first saw Yellow+Blue, first thing I thought was: Oh no, I am not tasting this…. There was no way that something good can come out of box. But than I heard the story about the founder of this project and it started to make sense.

Matt Cain worked in wine industry for 15 years, almost a decade for renowned wine importer Kermitt Lynch (who specializes in French Burgundy and Bordeaux small production wines.) Kermitt devoted his life to fine wines. That’s why I realized that Matt’s palate is going to be as spoiled as mine:). When Matt moved on to his own business, he went on the mission to find the best quality wine for the best possible price.

First he located great quality wines in Argentina that were well cared for and organically grown. These wines were meant to be bottled – and with the price of glass, corks and transportation it wouldn’t be inexpensive Malbec. So he found a company that would create a packaging using a Tetra Pak. Tetra Pak is well known material holding fruit juices, broth and other produce that needs to be preserved fresh. They created a shape of box that saves space in shipping containers and fits 1L of wine (1 third more than a regular wine bottle).

As the company explains: A case of wine in glass weighs 40 pounds and holds 9 liters of wine — close to 50% wine and 50% packaging. A case of Yellow+Blue weighs 26 pounds and holds 12 liters of certified organic wine. That’s 93% wine and 7% packaging.

When you count all these things together, you get more great wine for much less money. I don’t think there is another product like that on the market, in such packaging, at that price. Vine was treated with the highest care, harvested by hand, underwent sorting process like any high quality wine does. Since the fermentation occurs in stainless steel,the quality of this Malbec speaks for itself, the fruit expression is amazing.

Tasting notes:
Strong aroma of fresh black berries with a touch of cocoa. This ruby colored Malbec gives you taste of dark fruit, a little bit of chocolate and raspberries on the palate. Solid full body with velvety tannins and good level of acidity. Long satisfying finish that is common for much pricier wines. Definitely a keeper. Still having issue with a wine “from the box”? Pour it over to your wine decanter. Nobody would be able to tell a difference. This is fantastic value!

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Organically grown
Retail price: under $ 13.00 per 1 L

Ideal food pairing:
grilled beef, barbecue, aged cheeses, roasted lamb with rosemary, pork roast or steak

Argentina, Great wines under $10, Malbec, Mendoza, Red wine

Enrique Foster Ique Malbec 2008

Vera C.


Winemaker: Mauricio Lorca
Grapes: 100% Malbec
Region: Mendoza, Argentina

Bodega Enrique Foster is located in the center of the world’s premier location for Malbec – Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. Malbec, and only Malbec is planted on two Bodega vineyards at an elevation of 3000 feet above the sea level.

Carrodilla, where the winery is built, is 30 acres of ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1919 and Compuertas with 20 acres of less venerable vines planted in 1966.

So why it is that Malbec from Argentina is suddenly so popular? The grape variety is not new – Malbec is used in Bordeaux blends for ages to add color and dimension to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The varietal originated in the Cahors region of southwestern France and it is still produced there as a varietal wine.

But the French climate doesn’t allow Malbec to ripen fully. Therefore it is only here, in Argentina, that this wine can achieve the soft, rich complexity, so typical for the best Argentinian Malbecs.

Bodegas Enrique Foster produces 3 levels of Malbec wines:
Ique Malbec (from vines that are over 30 years old) doesn’t age at oak to preserve the fresh, young and fruity characteristic

Enrique Foster “Reserva” Malbec (from vines over 60 years old), hand harvested and aged for 1 year in French oak and an additional 9 months in the bottle, resting in their underground cellar

Enrique Foster “Limited Edition” Malbec (from their oldest vines)
Grapes for this wine are highly selected from the oldest vines, with restricted production not exceeding 2 lb. per vine. After the strict selection process this wine is aged for 14 months in new French oak barrels and 1 more year in the bottle.

The respect for the land and the never ending effort to produce the best Malbec in Argentina (which is to say the best in the world), shows in every one of these wines. After a research in California to study several gravity flow winery construction projects, the Bodega have built an unique system that eliminate pumping of the wine.

It was quite a challenge in the flat terrain of central Mendoza, but they achieved it. Mobil overhead I-beam crane that lifts grapes over the fermentation tanks, deep cellar for the barrels, multi-stage elevator and raised roof to fit it all in – all that requested much bigger investment than planned. But the quality of the wines, produced annually from this state-of-the-art-gravity-flow-winery more then justified the extra effort.

Tasting notes:
Rich aroma of ripe fruit and spice, this dark ruby young wine offers rich and complex wine experience. Great structure with silky tannins and long finish – an attributes that are more common in much pricier wines. An excellent value!

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: under $ 10.00 !!

Ideal food pairing:
Anything from the grill, Flank steak with shiitake sauce, Lamb burgers, Beef Bourguignon, Beef Chorizo, casseroles, leg of lamb or many more rich dishes

Argentina, Great wines under $10, Malbec, Mendoza, Red wine

Cabrini Malbec 2007

Vera C.

Winemaker: Hugo Cabrini
Grape: Malbec
Region: Mendoza, Argentina

Cabrini family is a forth generation family of Italian descent. They had been making wine in Mendoza since 1918. Their family has been making all of the sacramental wine for Argentina’s Catholic churches since 1939.

Hugo Cabrini, one of the owners of the winery, said that his greatest pride was when the wine arrived at the Vatican, brought as a gift for Pope John Paul II by a delegation of Argentine priests. The pope liked it so much that he used to celebrate Mass for the Jubilee.

In 1998 they partnered with Patrick Campbell, Californian wine producer of Terra Rosa brand. Thanks to this relationship with iconic Patrick and his co-winemaker Ray Kaufman, the Cabrini family improved their wine technology based on their suggestions, as they also received a helping hand in investments.

Cabrini Malbec (among other wines they are producing) was introduced to an American wine market 3 years ago and immediately took its place as an incredible value.

Tasting notes:
This wine, made from Medoza’s native Malbec, surprises with a rich aroma of ripe black fruit and herbs. Very complex, dry red wine with velvet tannins than offers blackberries and hint of pepper on the palate.
Growing in very warm and dry climate, Malbec gets just enough acidity to be a great compliment to large selection of different food.

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: under $ 10.00 !!

Ideal food pairing:
Pork chops with peppers,  Mexican Style Rice and Beans, Beef stew, Vegetable lentils,

Argentina, Malbec, Mendoza, Red blends, Red wine

Clos de los Siete 2006

Vera C.

Winemaker: Michel Rolland
Grape: 45% Malbec, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 10% Syrah (the blend varies every vintage)
Region: Mendoza, Argentina

Ratings: R.Parker 92 points:

“The 2006 Clos de los Siete is a slightly different blend. Opaque purple-colored, it has a similar expressive nose including fragrant plum, blueberry, and black cherry. Ripe, sweet, and seamless, it admirably hides its tannin under all the fruit. It will evolve for several years but who will have the willpower to defer gratification? It is an awesome value.”

The mountain vineyard of Clos de los Siete has very unique microclimate with its very low rainfall and incredible range of temperatures that played a big role in the longevity of these wines.

The vines went through very late snowfall, late flowering and then through constant high temperatures in January which led to a rapid color change in the space of just 10 days. Malbec was specialy noteworthy this vintage and took its right place as the top grape variety of Argentina.
Every grape for this blend were picked manually, manually sorted in the vineyard twice (before and after destemming).

Transport of grapes is done all by gravity (no pumping). The grapes were then soaked in cold pre-fermentation maceration, and pumped twice at the beginning and at the end of fermentation. Final blend than ages for 10 months in new French oak barrels – 1/3 in vat. Wine is not fined, not filtered.

Tasting notes:
This full body blend surprise you with rich aroma of blackberries, dark berries fruit and lovely dense ruby/purple color. Seductive when you taste it, rich on the palate with notes of plums, blueberry and chocolate. Very impressive, long finish, a quality, more common to wines twice or triple the price!

When combined with spiced dish, it brings out the spiciness of Malbec grape in the wine. Clos de los Siete is a master piece, can age well but is perfectly drinkable as a young wine as well. Great value!

Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: under $ 20.00

Ideal food pairing:
Steak, grilled barbeque meats, rich beef casseroles, spicy food such as our Mexican beans and rice, chili