2008 Cantena Malbec from Argentina

Aren’t coincedences funny? For the past month or so I’ve been enjoying wine talk from two sources. Wine Align’s blind tasting with the critics and Nathalie MacLean’s Unquenchable that I just finished.

I’ve been buying a few wines that I came across in Mrs. MacLean’s book, with one of the most recent being the Goats do Roam wine (enjoyable). I bought another one mentioned in her book just a couple days ago – the one I am talking about here. So a few hours ago I get an email from winealign.com saying that they have another video out in the series that I have been following. Now what are the odds that it is the very same wine. Absolutely crazy – it is. This is beyong weird – and also convenient as I get to include that very video here.

As I mentioned in the Reserve Perrin post, I love when the critics at wine align overestimate a price for a bottle. Doubly so when I’ve already written up a positive review. It tells me that I’m getting a good value. On to my review.

- I’m trying Malbec again. The first one I had I was not too crazy about so I’m going into this one with a negative vibe. Although the Graffigna was not my favorite I keep hearing good things about Argentinian Malbec. A smentioned above, I first heard about Bodega Catena, in the Mendoza region of Argentina, from a book I just finished (recommended). She had nothing but good things to say about it and my local wine seller happened to have half bottles of the Malbec, so it seemed like a perfect candidate to try.

The nose of this wine is great. I always think of ‘purply’ but that description won’t help you much. Well for me it means dark fruit with a touch of wood and/or violets. A lovely, deep, pleasant combination. The flavor is quite distinctive. I don’t have a lot of history (yet) with Malbec but if most are this nice I will certainly work on the relationship. Dark fruits, earth with some acid to keep it lively. very nice. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I will be buying more of these – and full bottles, thank you very much.

[note: I have been buying more of these for my cellar]