Dona Paula Estate. Malbec 2008, Grown, processed and bottled on the estate in Argentina. (From the label)
Ever buy a bottle of wine and think to yourself, Should I be drinking this? Well, this is one of those wines. We picked up a bottle of this and gave it a try. My first thought, was that this wine Really hasn't developed any real character, or flavor. On the surface, it was a fairly bland tasting table wine.
When I say bland, I mean that where wine is concerned, every bottle should have some kind of remarkable feature. Such as color, clarity, smell, taste, and of course finish. Finish is a fancier word for After-taste.
I opened the bottle and noticed there seemed to be no particular smell at all. Sniffed the cork, and in all honesty wasn't really smelling wine at all, just cork. I let the wine breathe, and of course one would think it would have improved. Nope. Poured the first glass. The color was decent enough, but wasn't particularly dark, and typically a wine with a 14% alcohol content would given me some kind of indication as to what kind of wine I was about to imbibe. The first few sips were nothing serious. A few hints of either raspberries, or blackberries, mixed with a few different spices such as cinnamon, or clove. I think they flame clean their barrels as there was a definite carbon taste to it. It was about half way through the first glass that I noticed the alcohol. Yep. Definitely not for the faint of heart. In fact, after one glass, I was pretty severely impaired. About an hour or so after that first glass, I had my second, and I can tell you all with absolute certainty that I had no desire, or ability to drive.
It's funny how quickly alcohol can catch up to you, when the meal you're eating consists of corndogs. State Fair brand corndogs from Sam's Club no less. The extra cheap kind that will sooner kill you than being exposed to radioactive materials.
I'm sure someone is thinking that I drank this wine with the wrong food. I whole heartedly agree. I think this wine would have made a fine compliment to any kind of dessert, or a good steak, served with Chimi-Churri sauce, fried red potatoes in garlic butter, and fresh cut corn with red peppers. Freshly baked bread would also have been necessary to complete the meal.
However, I stuck with corndogs because in all honesty I didn't feel like grilling anything, and am above all else lazy. This blog is for people who want to know about wine, not about setting the perfect placesetting or planning the perfect meal.
I am new to Malbec styled wines, somewhat. I was given a bottle of a brand that I cannot remember and it was exceedingly good. Of course I had that with something other than Corn Dogs. Yep, Fish Sticks I think. This Malbec is okay, but again it could very well be that by eating corndogs, it ruined my palate as to what the wine's potential could have been.
Given what I know of both corndogs, and wine, I imagine had I eaten the corndogs with hormel chili with cheese and sourcream on the top, it might have made for a more interesting meal.
So, how does the Dona Paula Estate, Malbec 2008 rate?
For starters, wait til 2010 to enjoy it. I think that this wine needs to sit someplace in your celler for another year for it really to show its true potential. It also needs to be served with something other than junk food. Twinkies might have been an okay choice.
On my scale of 1 to 5 it shakes out as follows.
I give it a 1 for the label. Boring, unimaginative, and as much as I like conservative labels, this one was just too boring.
I gave it a 2 for smell, 2.5 for flavor, and a 4. for the alcohol content. For the price, I gave it a 2, because I've had wines that were half the price, that were decidedly better than this one.
So what is the over all tally? I give it a 2.3 on my 5 scale.
I would definitely buy another bottle of this though, and put in my cellar for at least another year before giving it another try. Will likely do so, and write about it in a year. Better write this down someplace.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy!
