I know a couple of the folks who post here know about wine and hopefully will share their knowledge with me. Now, bear in mind, I'm not a wine guy. I love drinking and tasting wine, but I don't really know the terminology or anything like that. So don't expect me to... well, know what I'm talking about. That's the whole point of the club, to learn whats what. And to enjoy ourselves, of course. So without further ado, here is one of my reviews for the November wine: Malbec. I have three reviews, but I'm not going to put them all into one post. I really don't think anyone is going to want to read all that at once. You'll notice there is a format to them, it's how Babette over at Bakespace set it up, so that's how I'm keeping it. This is my very first one, so please, be gentle.
Name: Alamos
Price: $11.99
Year: 2007
Short intro from the wine maker about the wine: Made from grapes grown on the eastern slopes of the pre-Andrean mountains of Mendoza. The Cantena family has been making wine for over 100 years. All vineyards are hand-harvested. Good with chicken, lamb, grilled vegetables or pasta.
Review: Very dark in color, not a lot of body. Sharp and pretty acidic, but not harsh. Strong flavor, slightly fruity, a bit of a metallic aftertaste. It has a good start, but very little follow up. I would call the finish clean, if not for the metallic flavors. It's not the best red I've ever had, but it was good.
Would you buy again?: Yes
Wine Pairing Ideas/Recipes: It would be good with/in a red or pan sauce. For meats I would think beef (like pot roast) or lamb, stuff with strong flavors. It would need something that could stand up to it, no gentle or mild stuff. I could easily see drinking it with smokey, grilled things (or bacony pulled chicken). I bet it would be good with smoked cheese, although I didn't have any to try with it.
Yay!!! I wish I could figure out which recipes would go with the wines!
ReplyDeleteLet me know when you do champagnes! I love love love champagne.
ReplyDeleteDid I mention I love champagne? lol
Interesting about the metallic flavor...which is often caused when a highly acidic ingredient sits to long in a tinned environment and absorbs the flavors of the acid-metal interaction. It's rare but can happen and cannot be corected by the winemaker. Unless, you were eating certain vegetables while drinking this wine...that also makes it taste metallic.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review.
Spryte: It just takes practice, you've been doing it right. Just try everything you can think of when you drink it. :)
ReplyDeleteDawn: Heh, I love champagne too. Unfortunately my girlfriend will only drink it if it's like candy, so I won't even mention the kind I always buy...
noble pig: When I wrote this particular review I didn't eat anything with it at first, so it was definitely the wine. Several other people over at Bakespace noticed the same thing in their Malbecs. I wonder if it's just something that happens with this particular grape?
Your did a good job on your first review! I think it's great how you can pair up food with it. I don't know anything about wine so I can't add my two sense.
ReplyDeleteReeni: Thanks! Heh, those pairings are just guesses. I'm slightly worried about villagers with pitchforks coming after me because I've given them terrible wine advice. :)
ReplyDelete