Friday Sips

Earlier this year we featured the Estate Selection Red Blend from this Argentine fast-riser and it sold out in rapid fashion and deservedly so, it is damn good. For your tasting pleasure this afternoon, we have decided to unleash their even better Estate Selection Malbec.

Hailing from the top-level Agrelo area, 20 miles south of Mendoza, this old vine selection is an attractive "velvet monster" that unveils lively aromas of strawberry, plum-pepper, allspice, cinnamon, violet and hot rock. One smell reveals that it is from old vines at a high elevation. Sexy, saturated, chewy, polished, and a real mouthful of red wine. Through all of this, it maintains freshness which calls you back for another glass and another and another, etc., etc. The finish is penetrating and dense and reveals chocolate-covered raspberry red tones and sticks around for a long time. Drink through 2020.

Not necessarily a new entity in Washington, it has only been recently that Malbec has been utilized as a main cog in the state's wines and it seems to thrive quite well in Walla Walla. Like the previous Chakana is to Argentina, Fjellene is a relative newcomer to the Walla Walla scene and is definitely one to take notice of. These guys really capture the essence of the area all without pumping their wines full of performance enhancers.

Following suit to the area and its earth, Fjellene's Malbec is quite aromatic and chock full of forest berry aromas, mineral, integrated toastiness and pipe tobacco aromas. Texturally, it fills the mouth with full fruit, but is also impeccably defined with telltale regional smoothness, especially on the sleek finish. Very enjoyable now with a fat steak, however, it will age nicely through the end of the decade.

While a blending grape in Bordeaux, Malbec is the main attraction of Cahors, the famed growing region in the Dordogne and better known as "the black wine of France". Clos De Gamot is one of the region's major players. The Jouffreau family works mostly at the higher end of the spectrum and their wines reveal less about the grape and more about the soil which is what the best producers of this region accomplish. The beauty of the Dordogne is expressed deeply and this 100% Malbec is packed with plenty of penetrating power.

Deep opaque formidable juice, wild scents of red and blue berries, pronounced limestone-mineral, sandalwood, exotic spice and dried mushrooms pour from the glass and into the mouth where it is full and generous with an ever-so-slight nod to modernity. Even though there is a toe in this century, this is Cahors and the rich land here permeates the aromas and flavors and are a virtual throwback to another era. The finish is long, lasting, dry and palate staining. A whole lotta wine for 24 bucks! Drink this wine now and over the next 10-12 years with just about anything that's bad for you. Duck-leg, rillettes, paté de champagne, steak with a slab of foie gras on top or blue cheese.