I was a fan of the grape Malbec back in the day.
Back in the day no one knew what the hell a Malbec was.
Why love this grape? Well, for one thing, it can be cheap. (I should say affordable, but, let’s be friends here) You gotta love getting a voluptuous and earthy red wine on the cheap. What I was drawn to were the dark plum flavors, sometimes smokey finishes, and coco powder nuances. When I couldn’t drink another bottle of Cab, I gravitated to Malbec.
Can we talk about the cheap factor again? When you head to the South American section of your store, this is the grape you will see in droves. South American wines give you a bang for your buck if your willing to take a few risks with grapes and places that may foreign to you. If you are reading this blog, I think you can handle that risk. Isn’t that what google is for?
Last night I grabbed my “hauled bottle” of Kaiken Reserva Malbec. My friend Matt got to the bottle before I did. When I asked him what he thought, he said “It’s sharp and boring”. Now, that doesn’t make any sense. Damn, he was right! The sharpness he picked up on was the alcohol. Holy alcohol. We call this a “hot wine” in the biz; when your throat is on fire and all you sense is this aching in your chest. What drives me crazy is that you know you will be awake with this wine, while experiencing acid reflux, at three in the morning. (guilty)
And it was boring. It delivered a sweet fruit at first, but then totally fell off. There was an oak component, but it made the wine clunky. And way to much candied fruit – my goodness. I call this the chewing gum effect; artificial fruit flavors that stick around longer than they should.
Alas, it’s a NO for this one. Good news is I only paid $8.96 for the bottle.
