Enrique Foster, Ique, Cabernet Franc, 2017, Mendoza, Argentina
This Cab Franc from Enrique Foster, Mendoza, Argentina is a bit different to the usual Cabernet Franc wines I drink. There’s the typical black fruit flavours with hints of tobacco and leather but it’s also very oaky and austere. The flavour hits the front palette and stops. It’s got reasonable length but at £15 a bottle it’s pricy for what it is. The wife on the other was very pleased so that’s a benefit.
Vinalba, Reserve Malbec Touriga Nacional, 2020, Argentina
Vinalba make a lot of wine and it’s generally decent. This is no different it’s a fairly simple dry red wine with decent length and flavours of cherry, redcurrant, a little blackcurrant and hints of chocolate. The IWC gave this 95 points which seems very high to me. It did go very well with a big plate of cheese and biscuits but at £12 a bottle it’s a bit overpriced, its wine to just drink not to think about.
To sip an aged Malbec that has matured is a fine experience I was once told. An old wine is like silk rather than velvet. True, but it seems 11 years old is not old enough for a new world £15 Malbec. This is as fresh as when it was bottled, bold, dry, grippy tannins and flavours of sour cherry, spice and oak. It tastes better than it smells, not much going on the nose really, there’s a oaky cherry aroma but its all a bit one dimensional on all fronts. Maybe its been left too long or not long enough!
Its not bad but its pushing the price bracket, its a £10 or less bottle really.
Gran Lorca Poetice, Malbec 2009, Mendoza, Argentina
Camila Zuccardi Piligonos del Valle de UCO San Pablo Malbec 2014.