The fourth wine of Sunday lunch.
The complete line up-
2018 Domaine Saint Aix Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence Rosé
2014 Bodegas Alejandro Fernández Ribera del Duero Bodegas Condado de Haza Grupo Pesquera
2016 Château de Lestiac Bordeaux Supérieur
2016 Luigi Bosca Single Vineyard Malbec
Montaribaldi Rosso Dolce Birbet
Following the Bordeaux we had the Malbec.
I cut my wine teeth on Barossa Shiraz. Big fruit, big tannin, big oak… big everything.
It seems counter intuitive that your tastes would search softer elegant wines, but this was the case for me. First came Burgundy, then Chianti and Brunello. Now my sweet spot is Barolo and Barbaresco. A regression in the sense of starting light and working towards the heavy.
These days it takes a very rare and special Barossa Shiraz to impress me. They seem so big they are clumsy. Like slapstick, they are just too obvious. Maybe that is why I struggled with the Malbec?
Wine of the day for one guest, my least favourite of the red table wines.
Big dark fruits on the nose. Christmas pudding and chocolate, with some sweet spices from the oak. The palate is all about big fruit and big oak. More sweet, black fruits, chocolate all wrapped up in big grippy tannins. This wine is in balance and has no faults, but it lacks the nuance and elegance to make you take it seriously. It is good wine, but sits so far out of my preferred style it is hard to like.
I am sure this would be great drinking for those who love big, fruit driven wines.
