Showing posts with label Argovino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Argovino. Show all posts

Monday, April 21, 2014

#WhyILoveMalbec on World Malbec Day

On Thursday April 17th I participated in World Malbec Day by sampling through seven Argentinian Malbecs through Argovino's #WhyILoveMalbec Twitter tasting.  There were several tweets on the grape's lineage, history, and current planting. The parent grapes of Malbec are Prunelard & Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and it has traditionally been a minor grape in Bordeaux and a major player in Cahors (SW France) where it is known as Auxerrois or Côt Noir. In 1868, Malbec was introduced into Argentina and has found a unique home in high altitude Mendoza. The Malbec grape is thin-skinned and requires plenty of sun to ripen and in Argentina the Malbec bunches are smaller, tighter, more deeply colored than those of Cahors. Perhaps a different clone. Here are my tweets for each wine:

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Graffigna Centenario Elevation Red Blend Reserve 2012

During the past few weeks I have been learning about Argentinean wine through Protocol Wine Studio's titter chat #winestudio. This week they had planned their Grand Tasting of the wines discussed in previous weeks, and wouldn't you know that that day, I received a prize from Argovino a reviewer of Argentinean wine. Apparently my email was selected from their newsletter subscribers and I was sent the Graffigna Centenario Elevation Red Blend Reserve 2012 ($10). Forget about the price tag for a moment. The Graffigna family immigrated from Italy and settled in San Juan, Argentina - establishing the winery in 1870. This makes them the oldest winery in the Pedernal Valley and the second oldest in all of Argentina. San Juan is located in the steppes of the Andes Mountains - a desert climate - dry, with 310 days of annual sunshine. Wind sweeps off the mountains that help to prevent mildew rot and disease. The Graffigna estates are located anywhere from 700-1,500 meters above sea level on steep slopes that are nourished from an underground water supply. Graffigna Centenario Elevation Red Blend Reserve 2012 is an equal blend of Bonarda (Douce noir/Charbono), Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Syrah, and Tannat. The wine is fruit forward, made to be drunk now, even though there are some subtle tannins to balance the fruit. The flavor is a jammy blackberry plum combo followed by nice acidity. This is a very drinkable wine and for ten bucks - what's not to like. Pair with The Gipsy Kings. Cheers.