Los Cardos – Malbec – 2006

Date: 14DEC07

Name: Los Cardos

Label:

http://www.thewinebuyer.com/labels/P43105.gif

Winery: Vina Dona Paula

Website: www.donapaula.com.ar

Varietal: Malbec

Vintage: 2006

Price: $7.99

Preface: none

Appearance: Darkish red, with rose showing through, medium-bodied, but tending toward dull as I noticed several bits of flotsam and jetsam. This is the first wine where I could detect any impurities in the appearance.

Nose: A strong alcohol smell is the first thing that comes to mind, then maybe a sharp spice smell. Faint florals and whoa! I just sniffed the now empty glass and out came caramel, butter, candied apples, butterscotch. This is very strange, yet delicious. Markedly different than the nose of the full glass. Reminds me of eating butterscotch candies. This has me wondering if my untrained nose simply could not detect these aromas with everything else happening around it? Maybe the initial smell of alcohol was too up front and drowned everything else out? Again, this is very interesting and I’ll have to try this experiment again with my next wine. Fascinating.

Taste: Smooth, though not comparable to the Pepi last tasted. Slightly sweet, some tannins, with a good, long, crisp finish. Not bad. Not well balanced, however, as the burn from the alcohol is very pronounced and not integrated with the other flavors.

Tellings: Some housekeeping notes are in order. I’ve added the heading Label, Winery and Website and removed the Copy heading, as it is easily read by surfing to the linked site. I feel a visual picture of the label is more enticing than my hit-and-miss descriptions.

Also, since this Critique follows on the heels of yesterday’s, I didn’t have time to do a satisfactory amount of reading/research on the “nose” portion of my education, so I’ll highlight that aspect of wine tasting in my next Critique.

I bought three more bottles of wine today, bringing my total number of ready-to-drink bottles to seven. Drawn again to World Market, I spent some time thoughtfully reading labels and then talking at length with the employee in charge of the wine section, Edward. I had two bottles ready to go but he enthusiastically convinced me to switch to another two, and added a third, matching the number I originally intended to buy. I won’t mention what I picked up as I’ll review them down the road, but I will mention what I didn’t pick up, namely, two bottles of red wine vinified in Texas. Brimming – bursting! – with Lone Star State patriotism I selected a merlot and a cabernet sauvignon, but Ed’s quick and adjudged honest opinion of my choices – not flattering – convinced me that Texas’ day in the sun would have to wait. I’ll try them at some point, and like the idea of traveling to the vineyard to see how the wine is made.