#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:

• The Alamos Malbec 2012:  blackberry cherry; rustic aroma, smooth tannins, slight spic
• 2013 Postales Del Fin Del Mundo Malbec: earthy aroma; tannic hot: mellows quite a bit. Not as much fruit flavor. I found the Postales to be very earthy, less fruit than others, where the tannins mellowed nicely
• Argento Malbec 2012: blackberry aroma; chewy palette, more dark chocolate, smooth tannins
• Zuccardi Serie A Malbec 2012: earthy tobacco aroma.Medium tannins, more earth than dark black fruit
• Santa Julia Reserva 2012: toasted plum aroma; another earthy flavor, a little bite in the tail  
• Gascon Reserva Malbec 2011: blackberry smoke aroma; blackberry chewing tobacco and dark chocolate; mid tannins - one of my favorites
• Bodega del Fin del Mundo Reserva 2011: tobacco aroma, blackberries, earthy minerals, dark chocolate, a slight pepper finish. A little more tannins.

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.