Malcolm Jolley finds a fresh and mineral Malbec from Mendoza…
Here is an Argentine wine that confounded my expectations. If it looks familiar, it might be because it is being promoted on GFR here in a Good Food Fighter post by its importer, Profile Wine Group. Profile sent me a sample bottle a couple of weeks ago to try. I am happy to taste anything, but I was a little reluctant to try this as my general experience with $20 Argentine Malbec’s is that they follow a New World script of being too oaky sweet and too alcoholically hot. The 2015 TintoNegro Limestone Block Malbec ($19.95, LCBO# 404137) is neither and now I have the zeal of the convert. This lovely wine is being released into Vintages on February 8, and is made from vineyards at over 1,200 metres elevation on the Western, Andean, edge of Mendoza. As the name suggests, the vineyards feature predominantly limestone soils. Big on black fruit, it also has a distinct blueberry note and touch of saltiness (or minerality) over a fresh and vibrant acidity. It’s five years old but very much alive. Looking up the wine at tintonegro.com, I learned that it has a pedigree since it’s made from two veterans of the top Argentine house Catena Zapata. At $20 this cooler climate, high elevation wine is worth a try while it lasts.
