Saturday September 1st, 2012
2pm-4pm
Featuring:
2009 Darioush Capataz Malbec
2008 Gratia Malbec Reserva
2010 Filus Malbec
Were you aware that Napa Winery Darioush makes Malbec in Mendoza? Don't worry...we had no idea either until about 4 days ago. So obviously, we had to taste the wine to see if it was worth bringing in and people, we are here to tell you this is one of the best Malbecs we have had in a long time.
Is it at a daily drinking price? No no...this is at the Darioush type price of nearly $50 per bottle but hey, might as well try a little for free, right? To satisfy those of you who are a little more thrifty, like myself, we're going to be tasting the 2010 Filus Malbec and the 2008 Gratia Reserva as well.
In Argentina, you plant Malbec up in the foothills of the Andes, in an area called Mendoza, where soils can be quite depleted, where moisture comes only from mountain runoff, and if rain arrives, it can be in the form of destructive hail and the growing season goes on and on and the elevated vineyards give the vines something between sunburn and a steroid dose of photosynthesis and here Malbec is - home.
At least, so it would seem, because Malbec shows it's expression in the elevated vineyards of Mendoza: two thousand to three thousand feet up or more, with powdery, desiccated soils. Here in Mendoza, Malbec has something to say; quite a lot to say, in fact.
Fifteen years ago, Malbec was Malbec. If it was drinkable, it was from Argentina. Ten years ago, we discovered that Mendoza Malbec was very interesting and even occasionally delicious wine. In the last five years, we have seen that each vineyard within Mendoza has a slightly different set of flavors and aromas to add to the character of Malbec.
And even more tantalizing, when we think we have figured out that Lujan de Cujo (for instance) is a vineyard that gives a certain melon rind note to the rich and seductive Malbec grown there, the climate moves on. Global warming, global weirding, call it what you will, but cool, mountainous valleys like the Uco Valley were off limits twenty years ago for Malbec. Today the cool and shorter growing season offers to Malbec's mercurial character a place where it can be less lush and more balanced. The Uco Valley doesn't make Argentina's best Malbecs, but there's no one I have talked to in Argentina who doesn't want to have some sweet property in the Uco Valley, just in case it turns into the country's sweet Malbec spot.
So come on in this weekend and taste some crazy great Malbec and we'll close out summer in style!!
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