7 | 2004 Arzuaga Navarro Crianza | Ribera del Duero, Spain | $29.99
This was the seventh wine of the series, second round of overtime. Dave from Mission Wines was kind enough to pour the party a tasting of this really excellent tinto fino (as tempranillo is known in this region) from the dry river of Duero. Being a crianza, it was aged for thirteen months in oak. I was expecting it to be huge and powerful, expecting some forceful tannins (I’ve found tempranillo from Ribera del Duero is “stronger” or more assertive than those from Rioja), but this wine was surprisingly smooth. Plummy, a little hint of leather. I think this wine probably benefited from my having tried the tannic firebombs of the Barrel 27 and the Tejada beforehand. I would love to compare this one to the Tinto Pesquera, which is another wonderful tinto fino from Ribera del Duero.

(95% tinto fino, 3% merlot, 2% cabernet sauvignon)

8 | Sean H. Thackrey “Pleiades XVI” | Bolinas, California | $23.99
This is a crazy wine. Dave poured this for the party and told us to try and guess what it was. I sniffed and got menthol. A lot of menthol, as in eucalyptus. I also detected a bit of anise as well as other herbs.

This picture is from an older vintage, but you get the picture.

The taste was amazing and yet, very polarizing. No one else in my group liked it at all. Erica compared it to drinking rubbing alcohol. Someone else said it was like Listerine. I can understand: the menthol did impart a bit of a fiery element to the wine, and it did have a fair level of acid. However, it was complex and unlike any other wine I’ve ever had. Tar and citrus, earth and fruit. I don’t know quite how to describe it other than it’s probably the most interesting wine I’ve had in a while and one that every “serious” wine drinker should pick up.

I guessed syrah, though the color was way too clear for just syrah. The color made it look like a pinot noir or gamay, but it didn’t have any of those varietals’ flavor profiles. Maybe some Italian wine–nebbiolo or barbera. I was thinking maybe a blend. And I couldn’t explain the menthol.

Dave put it together for us. It WAS a blend, of everything from syrah, barbera (yes!), carignane, petite sirah, sangiovese, and viognier, among others. And the intriguing part is that this blend was fermented in open-air vats that sat under–what else–eucalyptus trees. Wow! The Pleiades XVI is, obviously, the sixteenth iteration of this particular blend and was bottled in January 2008.

Now, the “tasting” was over, but we weren’t ready to throw in the towel. We picked up two bottles of wine to drink:

9 | 2006 Amancaya Malbec / Cabernet Sauvignon | Mendoza, Argentina | $19.99
Yikes! This was more expensive than any other malbec I’ve ever had in my life, but then again, it had unparalleled lineage: Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) of Bordeaux. This wine combined the power of Argentine malbec and the finesse of Bordeaux. It was purple, but bright and not brooding. Black cherry, plum, licorice. Good tannin. Overall, the combination of 50% malbec and 50% cab was win-win.

10 | 2006 Elizabeth Spencer “Special Cuvee” Pinot Noir | Sonoma Coast, California | $32.99
Probably shouldn’t have had a pinot noir after all the strong, tannic wines, but eh. The Elizabeth Spencer was still good. I already wrote about this wine earlier, so I’ll just link to my previous review.

Then Kirk, one of the regulars, came around with a bottle of zin from a recent trip to Paso Robles:

11 | 2005 Minassian-Young Estate Zinfandel | Paso Robles, California | $20.00
I’m not too familiar with zinfandels. It seems that a lot of them are just overly jammy and simplistic. This zin, from winemaker David Young, was delicious. Yes, it was jammy but not cloying. It had a good structure of tannins to keep it from becoming something you’d swill from a jar. A lot of boysenberry, evocative of Fig Newtons. Long, long finish. Great wine from a very new vineyard.

So there you have it. One of the best–and longest–tastings I’ve had ever. Actually, the second-longest: my first consisted of 24+ wines, when I was a barista / runner at Adagia. That was crazy.

It’s sort of an immigrant grape. One of the up to six grapes used in Bordeaux wines, it rarely took center stage except in other more “rustic” regions like Cahors. (One example is the really excellent Clos La Coutale from Cahors, which is a bit southeast of Bordeaux. The Clos La Coutale is 70% malbec, 15% merlot, and 15% tannat. This Kermit Lynch selection has the finesse and grace of a fine merlot but the suppleness of a Argentine malbec.) It took the importation of this grape to the New World in the mid-1800s to give malbec the home it deserved.

The growing conditions in South America–especially Argentina–were ideal for malbec, which requires more sun and heat than cabernet and merlot (its more famous compatriots). This allows for New World wines that are 100% malbec.

My favorite malbec is from Maipe, which is an intense, staining shade of deep purple. It almost pulses with an animal, sensual energy. There are dusty fruit aromas that, upon drinking, fill your mouth with an utterly satisfying, powerful explosion of plum, chocolate, earth. It’s a bronze fist covered with a silk glove. It is delicious by itself, with chocolate, with anything you can throw at it–I wouldn’t, however, pair it with fish or anything too delicate. The Maipe would destroy any gentle partner.

I wrote about the malbec from Bodega Norton in a previous post: it was disappointing. It had a limpid body, it seemed more like a pinot noir than what I had come to expect from a malbec. It was weak, uninspired and uninspiring, especially when compared to the Maipe.

Another disappointing malbec is from Budini: weak, but unlike the Norton not even quaffable. It’s rare for me not to finish a bottle once it’s opened. I threw the Budini away.

I’m drinking a malbec from Altocedro as I type this post: the 2006 Año Cero.

This one has a bit more “heat” than the Maipe, combined with less body. It’s jammy. It’s better in my book than the Norton and the Budini, but nowhere close to the Maipe. This is a shame because I couldn’t find a bottle of Maipe for the past two months! Chris, the proprietor of Mission Wines, informed me that the distributor was all out of the Maipe and that he was waiting for the new vintage to come out. (I’ll be sure to post about that wonderful day when it arrives!)

JOON’S SCALE OF MALBEC DELICIOUSNESS

1) 2006 Maipe Malbec | Mendoza, Argentina | $9.99

2) 2006 Altocedro “Año Cero” Malbec | Mendoza, Argentina | $11.99

3) Bodega Norton Malbec | Mendoza, Argentina | $7.99

4) 2006 Budini Malbec | Mendoza, Argentina | $9.99