While the roots of Bodega Norton go back to 1895, it’s seen a lot of changes over the past 20-some years. It was acquired by Austrian businessman Gernot Langes-Swarovski in 1989 and has seen a lot of investment since then to improve the quality and quantity of wine they produce. In 2006 they were named one of the top wineries in the world by Wine Spectator magazine, a testament to the work they had done over recent years.
Norton produces a number of different lines of wine and this malbec is from their Reserva line, which is a step up from their entry-level wines but certainly not the most expensive wine they produce.
A question some readers might have, with this review going up right before Thanksgiving, is “can I serve a malbec with Thanksgiving dinner?” And the answer is sure! Why not?!
The aromas in this wine are on the darker side, with plum, black cherry, mocha and some clove to make it interesting. The only complaint on the nose is that it’s a bit fumy from the alcohol, although it’s not so strong to be a total turn off. The palate brings plum and cherry flavors with lively acidity. It also has a touch of black pepper spice. The tannins are moderate and the finish is fairly long. While there’s not a lot to make this malbec stand out as unique, it is sturdy and pleasing.
Wine: Bodega Norton Reserva
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $15.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
We’ve reviewed a number of Tercos wines in the past and found them to be reliably decent, although not necessarily stellar. But still, sturdy wines for the price. Most recently we reviewed their 2008 Tercos Malbec, and now it’s time to check out the 2009. This one will be a short and sweet review.
The nose is kind of tight on this malbec, but it does offer some light blueberry and chocolate aromas. The palate has plenty of cassis and black cherry flavors, although it’s a little bit on the tart side. It finishes with more fruit and slightly bitter tannins. This is not at the top of my malbec list, but it is plenty drinkable.
Wine: Tercos
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.8%
Rating: 84
Price: $12.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
If you haven’t seen it yet, my column in the latest issue of Mutineer Magazine is all about malbec. But it’s not all about 100% malbec, it also includes this malbec blend from Clos de los Siete.
While there are a lot of pure varietal wines that I love, some of the most exciting wines I’ve been tasting recently have been red blends. This particular one is 57% malbec, 15% merlot, 15% cabernet sauvignon, 10% syrah and 3% petit verdot.
Clos de los Siete was a project started in 1998 by Michel Rolland, who had worked as a consultant in the Argentine wine business for several years. The idea was to create European-style wines from Argentina. Rolland partnered with a number of French producers on the project. The “Siete” in the name means “seven” as in seven partners created this project.
And while the history is interesting, we like to get straight to the point here. How’s the wine? In a word, it’s outstanding.
This wine has a nice, distinctive nose with a wonderful chocolate aroma. It also shows black currant and blackberry aromatics. The palate brings a well balanced bounty of black currant, blackberry and plum flavors up front, evolving into dark chocolate. The acidity and mouth feel are both stellar. But most importantly, this wine is just delicious!
And while the suggested retail price is twenty bucks, I’ve seen it on sale for under $15.
Wine: Clos de los Siete
Variety: Malbec blend
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.0%
Rating: 90
Price: $19.99
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
I talk every now and then about finding brands that you trust. It’s good to find a few brands that always seem to get it right, vintage after vintage. Brands that can be your go-to wines when you’re looking for a certain varietal or region. Don’t get me wrong, I love to be adventurous and explore different wines. But every now and then, you just want to grab something you know. And when it comes to Argentine wines, Kaiken is one of those brands for me.
Kaiken concentrates their production on malbec and cabernet sauvignon. They do have a couple wines with different varieties, but cabernet and malbec are their specialty and they do both very well.
Vanilla, violets, blackberry and plum tie together to create an exciting and aromatic nose on this wine. And the flavors are just as fabulous, with plum, blackberry and dark chocolate adding some complexity. There’s a leathery aspect on the finish, which also brings some black tea-like tannins and a lingering plum flavor.
If you like a malbec with rich fruit flavors balanced by earthy tannins and chocolate, then this is a good choice. And if you like spending only ten dollars for a tasty wine, then this becomes a great choice!
Wine: Kaiken Reserva
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $10.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Argentine malbec has become so popular recently that I get the impression that a lot of consumers assume that all malbec comes from Argentina. But not so. Malbec is actually actually one of the six Bordeaux varietals, although its popularity in Bordeaux has faded significantly in the past 50-some years. It is, however, very popular in Cahors, France. And with the popularity Argentine malbec has seen in recent years, other parts of the world are trying out this varietal more and more. The malbec we’re reviewing today comes from the Colchagua Valley in Chile.
In general, Chilean malbec has a tendency to be more tannic than Argentine. But this one wasn’t overly tannic and most importantly, it was good.
Sometimes when I taste a wine, I’ll visualize musical notes from the aromas, or perhaps tones is a better description, like bass, midrange and treble. I guess it’s just a good analogy as certain scents seem to have a particular frequency. And when a wine is balanced, the musical tones seem harmonious. This wine is just that, harmonious. When I smell the wine I get some blackberry aromas in the bass range, plum in the midrange and vanilla overtones in the treble. And what makes them harmonious is that they complement each other with a perfect balance of each.
The palate offers some plum and blackberry flavors, but it lacks some of the depth I was hoping for based on the nose. The tannins are slightly dry, giving some texture to the mouthfeel. And the acidity is spot on, adding a little brightness to the finish. While it’s not the richest malbec out there, it’s a decent wine for $12.
Wine: Calcu
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $12.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Last night, we reviewed a very good, although relatively pricey, malbec from Cruz Andina. Well, tonight, we’re checking out what a malbec for under $10 can deliver.
I sometimes like to give a little background story about a wine, but with this one I don’t really have much story to share. This brand is part of the E&J Gallo family. And that’s about all I have for you, other than my tasting notes — which will reveal that even without a rich story, I found this wine to be quite satisfying.
This wine has a fruit-laden nose with outstanding intensity. It smells beautiful, with aromas of blackberry jam, black currant and chocolate. It tastes fantastic too with blueberry and blackberry flavors and vibrant acidity. The tannins are moderate. The finish is long with tangy berry flavors and a touch of spice. All told, this is a lively, fruit-forward and very drinkable malbec.
I mentioned that it is under $10, but I didn’t mention how much under. It’s a mere eight bucks. And at that price, this wine is a steal!
Wine: Bodega Elena de Mendoza
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.8%
Rating: 87
Price: $8.00
Want a second opinion? Here’s what others had to say about this wine:
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
So… you say you like malbec? Me too. Who can resist it, with it’s dark, silky-purple color, dense fruit flavors and floral aromatics. It’s no wonder this varietal has skyrocketed in popularity over the past ten years. And Argentina is the source for most of the exciting, new world malbec. And that’s what we’re going to explore for the next few reviews.
One of the trends we look for here at Cheap Wine Ratings is which producers consistently produce good wines. And one of the Chilean wine producers we’ve come to trust as being consistently good, is Veramonte. But why, you might ask, am I talking about Chilean producers when this review is about an Argentine malbec? Well, Veramonte is not just a Chilean producer, but they are also producing Argentine malbec under the Cruz Andina name. And this malbec reinforces Veramonte’s status as a brand we trust and like… a lot!
The fruit in this malbec comes from Luján de Cuyo and Uco Valley, the most prized appellations for malbec in Mendoza. Based on what we tasted in this wine, we can see why these appellations are prized.
There’s a lot of clarity on the nose of this wine, and by that I mean that the aromas are distinct, not muddled together. Black cherry, violet and black pepper fragrances blend together beautifully, yet express their own distinct notes at the same time. On the palate, it’s brimming with plum and blueberry fruit, which is so concentrated that it’s almost chewy. Some spice kicks in mid-palate and carries through an exceptionally long finish. The mouth feel is nice too. In a nutshell, this is a great malbec!
This malbec is bigger and better structured than many other lower-priced malbecs we’ve tasted, which tend to be more fresh and fruit-forward. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty of fruit in this wine. But it has more depth and complexity, beyond just the fruit, and that is one of the things that makes this wine stand out.
The price is at the upper end of our typical price range, but if you want a wine that really stands out it may be worth it for you.
Wine: Veramonte Cruz Andina
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 92
Price: $19.99
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Robert Mondavi was one of the most important pioneers of Californian wine, if not the most important. He is know for his tremendous contributions to technological advancements and marketing of California wine. And it’s a shame that this the first time we’ve reviewed a wine bearing his name, although we have reviewed other wines from the Mondavi family.
Although started as a family company, the winery was acquired by Constellation Brands in 2004, where it resides today. There are a few different brands that bear the Robert Mondavi name and the Robert Mondavi Private Selection brand is a mid-level brand — despite the fact that “private selection” might imply that it’s the best stuff, selected for a private few, lucky consumers. That’s good marketing! While it’s not the cheapest wine you can find with the Robert Mondavi name on it, it’s far from the most expensive.
Now while I’m being a little bit snarky about the name, I’m not going to complain about the wine in this bottle. It smells and tastes like what I expect from an inexpensive, Californian pinot noir — in a good way, I know some folks would say they expect an inexpensive, Californian pinot noir to suck. But it’s not bad, and for the price it’s a steal!
The nose on this wine is pleasant, with aromas like nutmeg, vanilla, cherry and a subtle frankincense. At least that’s what comes to mind. I honestly haven’t smelled actual frankincense in some time, but the wine has a perfume / incense fragrance that made me think of frankincense.
In the mouth it offers tart cherry flavors up front, with some strawberry flavors and spice coming into play on the mid-palate. The finish is a touch bitter, but not offensively so. The acidity is good and the tannins are subtle, but sufficient. All told, this is a decent, although somewhat predictible, pinot noir.
Wine: Robert Mondavi Private Selection
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $11.00
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Today we’re reviewing yet another wine from the bargain wine mega-producer, Bronco Wine Company. This one is from their Fat Cat Cellars brand.
It has a somewhat fun label, which kind of reminds me of Keyboard Cat. Who knows? Maybe that’s what inspired the label. I have a feeling that’s probably the case.
The oak on the nose of this wine overpowers the fruit. I’d say it’s a touch out of balance, but if loads of oak is your thing then maybe you’ll dig it. It offers a nutmeg spice aroma, along with cedar and cherry. On the palate it actually has some quite lively fruit flavors, like cherry and plum. But it also has rather heavy oak flavors, particularly on the finish. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-oak. But it just doesn’t come across as balanced and well-integrated with this wine. Still, for $10 I’ve tasted worse.
Wine: Fat Cat
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 83
Price: $10.00
Some others have had a slightly more favorable read on this wine than me. It did get a gold medal at the 2011 SF Chronicle Wine Festival and Wine Enthusiast gave it an 85 and gave it a “Best Buy” classification.
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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Carmenet wines are part of the Bronco Wine Company portfolio, one of the biggest producers of bargain-priced wines in the US. The appellation noted on the bottle is California, meaning the grapes could have come from any part of the state, or multiple parts. I don’t have a whole lot of story to tell about this wine other than that, so let’s get right to the tasting notes.
This wine has a soft nose, with plum, cola and oak aromas. And when I say oak aromas, I don’t mean vanilla, coconut, nutmeg or other spicy nuances that oak can impart on a wine. In this case, I mean it smells like a wet board. An oak board, to be specific.
The oak is also what stands out on the palate. I have an acronym I sometimes use in my tasting notes, TMO: Too much oak. It’s not undrinkable, but it’s very heavily oaked. There is also plenty of ripe fruit on the palate, offering cherry and plum flavors. It’s very dry on the finish, where again the oak stands out. There are some enjoyable flavors in the wine, but it’s just thrown out of balance by… you guessed it, too much oak.
Wine: Carmenet
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 80
Price: $12.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
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