Tasting- "Santa Alicia Reserve" Carmenere

Name: Santa Alicia Reserve

Variety: Carmenere

Region: Maipo Valley

Country: Chile

Year: 2010

Price: $8.99

Review: Vivid ruby. Straightforward, somewhat jammy dark berry and cherry aromas pick up an herbal nuance with air. Juicy, sweet blackberry and cherry compote flavors are a touch loose-knit but provide good palate coverage. Finishes on a bitter chocolate note and with a brisk, peppery bite. I like this wine's energy.

My Review: Great wine, I liked the boldness of it.  Great wine to sip by itself, doesn't need food to make it better.  I could taste the cherry and blackberry components   I think this wine showed me that I like wines with a bit of a bitter bite to it.  I would put this in my top favorites when it comes to wine
I did not have this wine with food.

Tasting- "Dona Paula Los Cardos" Malbec

Name: Dona Paula Los Cardos

Variety: Malbec

Region: Mendoza

Country: Argentina

Year: 2010

Price: $9.99

Review: Fresh plum and blackberry waft from the glass of the dark ruby purple Los Cardos Malbec. There’s a sweet, tangy attack of blackberry fruit with notes of underbrush, tar, and earth and good purity of fruit on the finish with firm, ripe tannins. This wine offers everything, and at a very reasonable price. It just goes to show that all those people drinking Mendoza Malbec know what they’re doing. We liked this wine a great deal in our 2006 report on Argentina Malbec, and we’re happy to report that Doña Paula has maintained a consistent, high quality style. An exceptional value!

My Review: Interesting Malbec, not my favorite.  It was a little too flowery for my taste.  I prefer a more "meaty" wine. However, it was a nice wine, might be better at cellar temperature rather than room temperature.

I had a lasgna made with sauce that contained the wine, it was a good pairing

Tasting- "Kriek Lambic"

Name: Timmermans- Kriek


Variety: Lambic


Region: Belgium

Country: Germany

Year: None

Price: $6.00

Review: "Its flavor is entirely dedicated to the cherry, which is already felt from it very powerful nose. Its acidity is neutralized by its agreeably sweet and fruity bouquet. Its taste advances profoundly in the mouth and lingers long, gently and also elegantly tinted with summer cherries."  -http://www.marinamarket.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=12090

My Review: Let me start with this: it may try and trick you by saying it is a "Lambic" and putting a pretty cherry label on it, but in the end this is still beer. Now, would I prefer to drink this than Natural Light? Well, yes, of course.  But in the end it was just cherry beer, I could still taste the tasty beer leering at me from the background.  Basically if you took Natural Light and put in a packet of Cherry Kool-aid, I think you would get about the same result.

I did not have this beer with food.

Tasting- "Obvio- 2010"

Name: Obvio

Variety: Malbec

Region: Mendoza

Country: Argentina

Year: 2010

Price: $9.99

Review:  I could not find a review for this particular vintage.

My Review:  So I tried Obvio once before on my wine blog and I said it was quite possibly one of my favorite wines of all time.  I decided to do a little experiment (like in "Drink This Now") about vintages.  I found that there really is a difference in vintages.  The 2010 vintage was a lot less 'buttery', and a lot less fruity.  I liked it a little more the day after, and it was much improved when I had food with it.

I did have this wine with food.  I made a red pasta sauce with this wine.  I browned some shallots and garlic and then used the wine to de-glaze the pan.  It was delicious, the wine with the food sort of rounded off the whole wine and made it very tasty and less extreme.

Tasting; "Finca Sophenia Reserve"

Name: Finca Sophenia  Reserve

Variety: Malbec

Region: Mendoza

Country: Argentina

Year: 2009

Price: $12.99

Review:  Intense deep red colour with violet hues. Complex aromas of plums and ripe cherries and violets. It is enhanced by the presence of dry fruits and mint hints. A wine of great concentration and complexity showing sweet and voluminous tannins. - http://www.winehound.co.uk 

My Review: First impression: smells sort of salty almost, bacon perhaps?  The smell was far away from anything fruity.  I would also use the word earthy to describe the smell.  I think now I understand much better when people describe a dry wine, it really was not sweet at all.  The finish was also a little bitter for my liking.  I would be curious to try this with some sort of red meat, I think that it would change my opinion greatly.



I did not have this wine with food.

Wine Tasting- "Trivento Reserve"

Name: Trivento Reserve

Variety: Malbec

Region: Mendoza

Country: Argentina

Year: 2010

Price: $8.99

Review:  "The red wines begin with the dark ruby-colored Select Malbec, which spent six months in seasoned French oak. The aromatics reveal blueberry and black cherry followed by a forward, easygoing wine with plenty of flavor and no hard edges. It is an excellent value and a pleasant introduction to the virtues of Malbec." - http://www.empirewine.com

My Review:  When I tasted this wine I tasted sort of a deep blueberry or black currant taste.  It was definitely a dry wine, but those undertones were still present.  The wine sort of coated my tongue a little while I drank it (but not to the point that it was over powering).  Another word I would use to describe it is a molasses, because it had little bitterness too it. It also has a very smooth finish.  I know I need to try more than just Malbecs, but I just enjoy them so much!

I did not have this wine with food.

Tasting- "Crios Malbec"

Name: Crios Malbec

Variety: Malbec

Region: Mendoza

Country: Argentina

Year: 2010

Price: $14.95

Review:  Previous vintage, 90 points, Rober Parker 5% Bonarda in its blend.  It spent 9 months in 50% new French and American oak.  Notes of balsam wood, smoke, black cherry and spice box lead to a similarly styled wine that comes off as just a bit too lean.  Again, the flavors are pleasant, but should be drunk over the next several year while it retains its fruits.

My Review: This is the second Malbec I have tasted and I have to say, this might be a favorite variety!  I found that this one also had a very smooth flavor that was very easy to drink. I could taste the sort of spiced flavor to it.  I like that it isn't a very intense red wine, I think it is a great starter red.

I did not have this wine with food.