Malbec World Day Celebration

Malbec World Day is an annual celebration for wine lovers to drink their favorite Malbec wine and share it online with other like-minded drinkers. It happens every year on April 17. I am a little late posting about it but I celebrated on time.

The Malbec grape is originally from southwest France near the Pyrenees in Cahors and it is one of the approved red grapes for Bordeaux. It immigrated to Argentina in the 1800s and since 2011, it has been the main grape cultivated in its new homeland. Argentina has over 100,000 acres planted to the grape with 85% of that in Mendoza. Lujan de Cuyo is a subregion of Mendoza, it is located next to the Andes Mountains about 3,300 feet above sea level and has a hot, dry climate. There is good temperature variation from night to day allowing the grapes to fully ripen from the intense sun yet still maintain their natural acidity.

I celebrated Malbec World Day with a bottle of Eolo from Trivento. 2015 was considered a more challenging vintage, it was warmer and wetter than typical. Producers spent more time in the vineyard working to overcome these difficulties. The grapes for this wine are sourced from a vineyard planted in 1912 that is situated on the north side of the Mendoza River. The site is very windy which is the inspiration of name, Aeolus was the Greek God of the winds and the name Eolo is the Spanish form of that name.

Trivento Eolo Malbec 2015 - Very balanced and elegant with rich blackberry aromas and flavors with notes of tobacco and spice. It is full bodied, yet supple with fully integrated ripe tannins, good acidity, and a persistent spicy finish. A beautiful wine thoroughly enjoyed with grilled ribeyes. I've held this wine for over a year, it is available on Wine-Searcher.

Comments

Lust Zinfandel 2007

My husband loves this wine so he purchased quite a few bottles at a recent Michael~David dinner that we had attended. Last night, I decided to open a bottle to serve with dinner. I was making a roasted southwestern pork tenderloin, sweet potato fries (w/ chipolte ketchup) and a salad consisting of baby lettuce (fresh from my garden) with strawberries, red bell peppers, red onions and walnuts tossed with a white balsamic-raspberry vinaigrette. This turned out to be a great pairing. It is a bold wine that really stood up to the strong chipolte seasoning while complementing the fruit flavors. I opened the bottle a 1/2 hour before I served it as I have found this wine to be more enjoyable when I do so. The Lust Zinfandel by Michael~David 2007 was a dark purple color with a ruby rim. It has intense aromas of very ripe mixed berries and baking spices-both allspice and ginger with hints of ...

Introducing Oltrepò Pavese - An Italian Sparkling Wine that You Should Know

Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Italy to taste the wines of Oltrepò Pavese. I discovered that these sparkling wines are based on Pinot Noir, they are made in the traditional method, like Champagne, and most importantly, they are an Italian hidden gem that bubble lovers across the world need to put on their radar. In the August issue of Galveston Monthly magazine, I introduce these wines to my readers.

The Salta Tour 2012

Vine Connections and Pioneer Wine Company hosted a seminar and tasting event for Houston's wine trade and media at Backstreet Cafe yesterday. All but two of the wines were from the Salta Province of Argentina. Salta is the most northern wine region in Argentina lying close to the Bolivian border. The climate is very extreme due to the high altitude. Plantings start at 5,000 feet above sea level and climb to 9,000 feet, making these vineyards the highest in the world. The intense sunlight the area receives helps to create grapes with more anthocyanins, these are the color pigments which result in softer tannins, lower astringency and more intense flavor. The wines produced are extremely pure, concentrated and terroir specific. Torrontes Riojano which is considered the best of the three Torrontes clones is the most widely planted grape with plantings of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat increasing. The seminar started with a tasting of four Torrontes wines, three from...

Wine Life - Houston

Search This Blog