2013 Barricas Malbec

If you've known me a while, you know I tend to have a love hate relationship with Malbec, there are some I enjoy and others that leave me really turned off.  Let's hope tonight's wine isn't the latter!  Tonight I've opened a bottle of 2013 Barricas Malbec from Mendoza Argentina, and if there's at least one thing the Argentinians do well it's Malbec.

The wine is a bright ruby in the glass, with very nice clarity.  The nose is chock full of ripe red fruit, mulberry, black cherry and plum with some floral notes of violets.  The taste is actually quite nice (see we did get the love kind tonight!), with some ripe fruit up front, wild berries and tart cherry that quickly transition to some baking spice and mocha notes midpalate.  The tannins are fine but still a little tightly wound given their youth, but they still provide a nice foundation for a long, smooth dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, it's easy drinking, an ideal everyday wine at a terrific value as I found this at G.B. Russo's in Grand Rapids for less than $8!  The wine does come with an artificial cork, which I'm not a big fan of, but it doesn't detract from the overall wine.  This wine would pair well with red meats or a variety of Latin foods, but tonight I'm enjoying it with some Italian sausage ravioli with some Alfredo sauce with red and green peppers and grape tomatoes, for a fresh pasta meal, as the ripe fruit and tight tannins really pair well with the rich cream of this sauce.  Cheers!