Comments on: The Malbec Experience 2

By: dan

dan — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:42:50 +0000

Well, as you said, to each his own. I’m not a fan of wines that are heavily oaked, which the Coleccion Privada line features. Many people are – just as many people like Napa Valley Cabernets, but in general, I don’t – same reason. But that’s what makes wine fun and interesting – if we all liked the same wines, there’d be no reason to have more than a few brands and grapes out there… Also, keep in mind that I was tasting this wine both in a mass tasting up against many others, and it didn’t compare favorably to many of them, plus, if you tasted and/or bought it recently, it’s had another two years to soften, develop, and integrate – things that can drastically change the quality of the wine.

By: geoff

geoff — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:08:44 +0000

I enjoy a bottle of 2003 Malbec Coleccion Privada from Navorro Correas and loved it. I bought three more to travel home. Don’t get your ‘not recommended’ advice but to each his own.

By: dan

dan — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:11:43 +0000

Oh, I’m sure I will at some point – I probably have at least blind-tasted it without knowing it for the wine guide. However, given the recommendation, I’ll keep my eyes open for it.

I agree – finding a wine writer whom you agree with often enough to trust their palate is a great strategy. They can be so vastly different it’s astounding at times. When I created the wine program at Veritas, one of the things I did was created a page at the back of the winelist to demonstrate this. I put quotes from three different wine writers, along with their scores, about the same wine. I wish I still had a copy of that page, but can’t find it amongst my papers – but the three quotes were radically different, from appalling to loved it, and the scores ranged from I think 54 to 88, all about the same wine, same vintage, and all had been published! Customers used to argue with me that that simply wasn’t possible, because if it was, what were they to do?

By: BsAsWino

BsAsWino — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:44:24 +0000

Me bad for “forgetting” that this entry was dedicated to Malbec.

I do agree with you that taste is a personal choice. I won’t appreciate a wine any more or less just because it’s well rated, but I will be tempted to use a higher rating as an inducement to try it, just as a poor rating will most likely cause me to reject it. That’s human nature, and I know I’m not alone in my interpretation. The best strategy, IMO, is to allign yourself with a wine writer who has tastes that roughly parallel yours. I participated in an organized blind tasting recently here in BsAs. It was very interesting how half of us always seemed to prefer one wine over the other. The opinion was never unanimous, and we all felt our choice was clearly superior to the other, regardless of the significant price discrepencies that were later revealed. One man’s plonk is another man’s nectar.

That being said, can I persuade you to try the 2002 Aristides Merlot?

By: dan

dan — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 02:22:42 +0000

Being the “Malbec Experience”, it was Malbec. Tastes are personal, and winning accolades from locals doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t like the wine, and vice versa if you do, but locals don’t, does it really matter? My experience living here, and with the volume of wine I taste both on my own, on panels, and with others, is that much of what wins accolades here wouldn’t be passable in many other countries in the world; and, much of what is ignored here because it doesn’t have the right credentials is amongst the best being produced.

It reminds me of a comment made by one of the members of the Austral Spectator panel a week or two ago (the company that produces the annual Vinedos, Bodegas y Vinos guide, and gives out awards for the top wines) – I was comparing a locally made blended wine to a Bordeaux – his comment – “I’ve never tasted a Bordeaux and don’t have any reason to. We make Cabernet – Merlot blends here, and they’re certainly of equal or better quality than anything produced in France.” That, from one of the people giving out those awards…

By: BsAsWino

BsAsWino — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 01:30:04 +0000

Hello. I read, with great interest, your comments about an Aristides 2002 (vegetable?) . What varietal were you referring to? Iâ€ve greatly enjoyed the Aristides Merlot 2002. I would rate it amongst the top 10 of the over 70 wines I recently sampled during my stay in BsAs. It has won accolades from a lot of the locals as well as won a Medalla de Oro en el Concurso VinoSub30.