jamie goode's wine blog: Catena Malbec rocks!

Friday, January 02, 2009

Catena Malbec rocks!

Just drinking Cantena's 2006 Malbec (from Argentina's Mendoza region), which, at just over £10 a bottle (UK agent Bibendum) is a really superb value wine.

It shows lovely purity of ripe, sweet, but well-defined raspberry and blackberry fruit on the nose. In the mouth, this sweet, pure fruit is joined by a bit of spicy structure. Tannins are really smooth and, while present, mesh with the fruitiness really well. Overall, it's quite an elegant wine: indeed, my view is that Argentinean Malbec at its best has more in common with Pinot Noir than it does with Cabernet Sauvignon - it's an elegant, ripe, yet expressive wine. This is sourced from four vineyards, all at altitude: Adrianna (5000 ft), Angelica (2850 ft), Piramide (3100 ft) and Nicasia (3870 ft). For the benefit of those used to metric measures, a foot is about 1/3 metre (this was a sample destined for the US market). It's 14% alcohol, and I rate it at 90/100.

Picture is a tasting I had in March at the Adrianna vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina.

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4 Comments:

At 6:59 AM, Anonymous Laurence said...

Waitrose seem to have this at 20% off at the mo - £8.54 per bottle

 
At 7:00 AM, Anonymous Laurence said...

But then I went to buy some ..... and its out of stock

 
At 1:59 AM, Blogger Pablo Lastorta said...

Good choice! Never can go wrong with Catena! Even though I find their Malbecs a bit too jammy sometimes!

Salud!

Pablo
malbecmadness.blogspot.com

 
At 2:36 AM, Anonymous Ramblin' Wino said...

Catena has been a great value ever since the early 90's, when Paul Hobbs consulted for them.A good choice!

 

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