Two Wines for the price of...too much money.

I'm breaking the mold a little bit here and reviewing two wines tonight. Both of them from the same winery, one Malbec and one Cabernet Sauvignon. Without further ado, we will start with the Malbec.

2009 Espuela del Gaucho Malbec, Argentina

Color -Ruby red with a strawberry rim

Nose - Blackberry and something herbaceous that I can't define

Taste - Right off the bat this wine is not as sweet as I'd expected for a Malbec. I'm used to drinking Malbecs that are a little bit cheaper or around the same price point, but much more fruit forward and quite sweet. This has hints of dark berries and round almost well-defined tannins. It's dry, medium-bodied with a decently long finish. It has just enough heat from the alcohol to tantalize the mouth as the wine leaves my tongue, but not enough to be unpleasant. By no means is this a complex wine. It's not the normal Malbec I'm used to at this price, more of a light Cabernet Sauvignon. It's enjoyable by itself though it can take on a slightly tangy or sour flavor in the mid-palate. It leaves my mouth with a very clean feeling similar to when I chewed on grass stalks as a kid. It's a mediocre Malbec, though a decent enough run of the mill red wine.

Overall, it's an ok wine but drink it when you're in the mood for a light Cabernet or a Merlot. It's not anything special but decent at 8.99 on sale, though I'd never pay full price for this wine. Go for the Mil Piedras Malbec for 14.99 or the Redwood Creek Malbec for 6.99. Leave this for someone else to try.


On to the second wine...

2008 Espuela del Gaucho Cabernet Sauvignon, Argentina

Color - Dark red

Nose -Sweet berries, raisins, sweet grapes

Taste - Perhaps the aroma of raisins pervades this to the point that it overwhelms the flavor as well as the nose, but that's the dominant taste I get.Very sweet, nearly over-ripe grapes and raisins. There's heat from the alcohol and the wine is medium-bodied with a long finish. Flavor-wise this wine is a fruit bomb. There's no depth, no complexity, no layers. The flavor of sweet grapes/raisins overrides absolutely everything. This wine is halfway decent when paired with dessert more than dinner. The extreme sweetness of the raisin flavor is dampened with chocolate and there is a very subtle leather/tobacco flavor that comes through. Again this is nothing spectacular, a very one-dimensional wine. This wine is nothing to get crazy about it's on the lower end of the spectrum. Very mediocre and rather plain.

Overall, this wine is nothing to rave about, its on the lower end of the spectrum. As much as I disliked the Malbec from Espuela del Gaucho, this is even more boring. I'd be hard pressed to find a more mundane Chilean wine. You could be blindfolded when picking out a bottle at the supermarket and 9 times out of 10 you'd get a more complex, more well rounded bottle than this. Pass on this one, while it's not bad, it's so "blah" it's nearly worse than bad.

Espuela del Gaucho Wines