{"id":66,"date":"2010-05-24T12:09:31","date_gmt":"2010-05-24T12:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=66"},"modified":"2010-05-24T12:09:31","modified_gmt":"2010-05-24T12:09:31","slug":"mid-priced-malbecs-offer-good-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"Mid-Priced Malbecs Offer Good Value"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Malbec\"We recently\u00c2\u00a0covered a\u00c2\u00a0few dozen new release Malbecs.\u00c2\u00a0 We found that many of the mid-tier priced offerings performed as well, if not better, than some of the higher priced offerings.\u00c2\u00a0 The exception was the winner of our big blind tasting.<\/p>\n

\"Trapiche-2006-Vina-Federico-Villafane-Malbec\"The 2006 Trapiche “Vina Federico Villafane” Malbec<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>from La Consulta, Argentina was the clear winner in our big blind Malbec tasting<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 This 100% Malbec opens with a fragrant ripe black cherry bouquet with a kiss of oak.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel truly enjoyed its refined balance and elegance.\u00c2\u00a0 The flavors were a tasty combination of black currant and black raspberry with just a hint of coffee and oak mixed in.\u00c2\u00a0 The panelists agreed that this Malbec lived up to its $50<\/strong> price tag.\u00c2\u00a0 We scored this wine 91 points<\/strong> and feel it was worthy of a Boston steakhouse Grill 23 <\/strong>filet\u00c2\u00a0mignon.<\/p>\n

\"Trivento-2007-Golden-Reserve-Malbec\"The next best Malbec was discovered by me and a couple of tasting panelists who attended this year's Boston Wine Expo<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 We also awarded this wine with 91 points<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 The 2007 Trivento “Golden Reserve” Malbec<\/a><\/strong> for $20 <\/strong>is a steal when compared to the Trapiche in terms of price.\u00c2\u00a0 It is also a very consistent offering.\u00c2\u00a0 It is near the top of our selections each and every year.\u00c2\u00a0 This year’s release opens with an attractive ripe blueberry bouquet and continues with those concentrated blueberry flavors on the palate.\u00c2\u00a0 There is a little integrated black pepper and spice as well.\u00c2\u00a0 This offering would also\u00c2\u00a0pair well with a steak.<\/p>\n

\"Luca-2008-Malbec\"The next winery is best known with our panel for their very successful Syrah program.\u00c2\u00a0 However they also struck gold with this year's Malbec.\u00c2\u00a0 The 2008 Luca Malbec<\/a><\/strong> for $36<\/strong> received 90 points <\/strong>from the panel.\u00c2\u00a0 It opens with a very mild black cherry bouquet with hints of toasted oak and anise.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel really spoke out about how food-friendly this Malbec is.\u00c2\u00a0 It was described as medium-bodied, balanced, soft, and very easy going.\u00c2\u00a0 Add in its mild dusty black currant flavors with a touch of black raspberry and toffee and you have a perfect wine to consider with duck confit or roasted Cornish game hens.<\/p>\n

\"La-Posta-2008-Angel-Paulucci-Malbec\"The next two offerings came in with 89 scores<\/strong> and have price tags under $20.\u00c2\u00a0 A perfect combination for our value orientated readers.\u00c2\u00a0 First up is the 2008 La Posta “Angel Paulucci Vineyard” Malbec<\/strong><\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>for $18<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a nice return to prominence for this wine.\u00c2\u00a0 It made a splash with the 2006 vintage.\u00c2\u00a0 It has returned to its glory with this year’s vintage.\u00c2\u00a0 It is full-bodied, balanced, and very fruit forward.\u00c2\u00a0 I really enjoyed its very concentrated boysenberry flavors with notes of black raspberry blended it.\u00c2\u00a0 This is such a big wine, that it will be very interesting to see where it goes with a little bottle age.\u00c2\u00a0 It the short run, serve it with a messy rack of barbecue ribs and enjoy.\u00c2\u00a0 Right on its heels is the 2008 Dona Paula “Estate” Malbec<\/a><\/strong> for $16<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 This offering differs from the La Posta in that it is more elegant with its palate presence.\u00c2\u00a0 It is medium-bodied, nicely balanced, and smooth with tasty blueberry and boysenberry flavors. This would be a great choice to serve with big juicy Angus burgers off the grill this summer.<\/p>\n

Renacer <\/strong>has been making Very Good quality Malbec for a long time.\u00c2\u00a0 Their 2006 “Punto Final Reserva” Malbec<\/a><\/strong> for $20 <\/strong>is a very nice expression of their quality.\u00c2\u00a0 It opens with a fragrant blueberry bouquet with a hint of toasted oak.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel really enjoyed its very tasty lush blueberry flavors with notes of oak, black raspberry, and black pepper mixed in.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel suggested pairing this Malbec with spicy food like jambalaya or chili.<\/p>\n

\"Susana-Balbo-2008-Signature-Malbec\"Our final two 89 pointers<\/strong> are the 2008 Susana Balbo “Signature” Malbec<\/strong><\/a> and the 2007 Tikal 2007 “Amorio” Malbec<\/a><\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Both are from Mendoza, Argentina.\u00c2\u00a0 The Balbo “Signature”<\/strong> for $25<\/strong> opens with fragrant ripe blueberry aromas and also has hints of nutmeg and coffee.\u00c2\u00a0 The panel felt it was medium-bodied, balanced, and easy to drink.\u00c2\u00a0 Its mild blueberry flavors were appealing and food-friendly.\u00c2\u00a0 Panelists suggested pairing it with beef satay or a pulled pork sandwich.\u00c2\u00a0 The 2007 Amorio<\/strong> for $33 <\/strong>was also balanced and smooth.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the Balbo it displayed tasty blueberry flavors with some oak and black pepper influences.\u00c2\u00a0 This offering showed more dusty tannins than the Balbo and it has some good length.\u00c2\u00a0 As a result, the panel suggested a thick rib-eye off the grill and a cigar with this one.<\/p>\n

The following recommendations are Very Good<\/strong> and Good +<\/strong> offerings with scores ranging from 88<\/strong> to 86<\/strong> points.<\/p>\n

1.\u00c2\u00a0La Posta 2008 Malbec “Pizzella Family”<\/strong><\/a>(Uco Valley, Argentina)\u00c2\u00a0$18<\/strong> (88<\/strong>)
\n2.\u00c2\u00a0Renacer 2008 Malbec “Punto Final”<\/strong><\/a>(Perdriel, Argentina) $12<\/strong> (88<\/strong>)
\n3.\u00c2\u00a0Peachy Canyon 2007 Malbec “Ms. Behave”<\/a><\/strong>(Paso Robles, CA) $32<\/strong> (88<\/strong>)
\n4.\u00c2\u00a0Ben Marco 2008 Malbec<\/a><\/strong> (Mendoza, Argentina) $20<\/strong> (88<\/strong>)
\n5.\u00c2\u00a0Trapiche 2007 Malbec “Broquel”<\/strong><\/a> (Mendoza, Argentina) $15<\/strong> (87<\/strong>)
\n6.\u00c2\u00a0Trapiche 2007 Malbec “Oak Cask”<\/a><\/strong> (Mendoza, Argentina) \u00c2\u00a0$12<\/strong> (86<\/strong>)
\n7.\u00c2\u00a0Kaiken 2007 Malbec<\/strong><\/a> (Mendoza, Argentina)\u00c2\u00a0$14<\/strong> (86<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

As you can see we found\u00c2\u00a0many Very Good Malbecs<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 However, only a few snuck into the prized 90 point range<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Fortunately for readers, most of the Very Good offerings are reasonable priced.\u00c2\u00a0 We feel that Malbec is a nice summer option for barbecued meats.\u00c2\u00a0 Be sure to check out some of these over the next couple of months.<\/p>\n

Cheers,
\nKen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We recently\u00c2\u00a0covered a\u00c2\u00a0few dozen new release Malbecs.\u00c2\u00a0 We found that many of the mid-tier priced offerings performed as well, if not better, than some of the higher priced offerings.\u00c2\u00a0 The exception was the winner of our big blind tasting. The 2006 Trapiche “Vina Federico Villafane” Malbec\u00c2\u00a0from La Consulta, Argentina was the clear winner in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,95,8,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kens-wine-guide-tasting-panel","category-malbec","category-wine-recommendations","category-wine-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}