At $17 my first impression was that I had spent a little too much on this bottle of wine. I found the acidity in this wine to be a little off balance with very little other characteristics to counter the acid and make this wine palatable. Over the next 30 minutes or so of exposure to air I noticed a marked change in this wine. The acid became more integrated and the previously harsh powdery tannins smoothed right out. On the nose, the black fruit still held strong with some nice savoury spices and herbaceousness coming through. On the palate, after the overpowering acidity faded away, I found that black fruit and spice made this wine fairly enjoyable. Others said they liked this wine because of it's full body and spiciness.
Overall, not a bad wine and definitely a good choice to bring along to a dinner party. I think this wine shows itself best when paired with food, especially meats. It would also probably show really well at a BBQ.
This wine is pretty interesting in that Malbec is so rarely seen in Chilean wines but the grape does well in the Colchagua Valley of Chile and this area is gaining reputation as a producer of top world class wines. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more wines like this in the future here in the northern hemisphere.
This wine is available for $17.00 at Marquis Wine Cellars on Davie St. in Vancouver.
ahh the power of decanting young wines can improve them so much.
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