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0:01
Hey, welcome Domain Dave cheapwinefightercom. Another wine today. It's a big one. It's 12 months in oak.
Speaker 1:
0:11
It's a Malbec from Argentina. It is the Dona Paula single vineyard Malbec 2023. It's from the Cuyo Valley, lujan de Cuyo, which is maybe how it's pronounced, and a single vineyard. This is a wine that was $11.99 at Costco and it's about that price everywhere else too. It might be a couple bucks more. I think about $11.99 is as low as it'll go and it's a nice Malbec, as low as it'll go and it's a nice mall.
Speaker 1:
0:50
Back, dona Paula kind of roughly translates to special women or important women, and it was named to kind of honor the women of Argentina, and it's a winery owned by Santa Rita, out of Chile. So it's a. You know, it's owned by a Chile, a winery owned by Santa Rita, out of Chile. So it's owned by a Chilean winery and it's its own winery. It's not a brand. They have their vineyards.
Speaker 1:
1:16
Single Vineyard is the Alto, alto is the heights and it is high. It's 3,445 feet up the mountainside. So there you go. Um, malbec used to be old time, used to be one of the red, um, uh, grapes that are used in Bordeaux, and it was decimated by the phloxera of the 1800s and it didn't really like cold weather and every time there was a cold snap in Bordeaux they would just lose the grapes and they went through so many times of trying to grow it only to be disappointed. They they actually pulled them up and you very rarely see um Malbec in a Bordeaux blend, and when, if you do, it's usually vines that were brought back from Argentina. So how did Argentina get it? And, far as I could tell, there was a guy that got on the wrong side of Napoleon in the early 1800s and had to get the heck out of town and went to Argentina and he brought the Malbec Great with him and it works really well there. One thing about being so high up in the mountains it's above the line where pests can live, where diseases that go after the grapes go, and it's got intense sunlight and warm days, cool nights, which is kind of like everything you need if you're going to grow grapes. So it's a great place to grow Malbec or anything else. But Malbec does so well there and Malbec has become a single varietal wine. I mean, they don't grow that much of it in California but you do. You kind of find it here and there or in a blend, because that's how they use it in Bordeaux or did use it in Bordeaux, but it kind of thrives on its own in Argentina and it's kind of a rock star in Argentina and this is a good.
Speaker 1:
3:18
Um, this is a good example. It's kind of funny because this is a single vineyard wine and it's $11.99, because, typically speaking, the smaller the sourcing area for your grapes, the more expensive the wine. It's like the very expensive wine aren't just a single vineyard, the single plot of a single vineyard, that type of thing. I'm gonna take a sip. It's got that smooth thing, then it's got the sharp acidity and some sour flavors. It's got a nice array of flavors. It's a good tasting wine.
Speaker 1:
4:00
It's a sipping wine and you could have it with. You can have a steak. I mean it's a sipping wine and you could have it with uh, you can have a steak. I mean it's 11.99 wine that you could go to a steakhouse. It's you know, byob or something it would hold up to that. You don't need to worry about spending 50 bucks on a bottle and it's you know, and it's, and it's tacos and pizza and that type of thing too would be great. So, um, so, anyways, back to it's.
Speaker 1:
4:24
This is a small. I mean, I think the vineyard is a fairly large venue because they're talking about having uh, a variety of uh of soil conditions, which tells me it's big, you know, um, but still it's a single vineyard and a great location by people who know how to make Malbec. I mean, that's what they do there. They make Malbec wines. It's not as if this is new to them and I think they've been around for about 20, 30 years down at Paula. But you know, by that point you get to know your vineyards and you get to know your productions.
Speaker 1:
4:58
And also another thing this is macerated, which means they leave the stems and the seeds and skins in with the wine during the fermentation, the vinification, fermentation process, and then they put it in oak barrels for 12 months. French oak barrels, 20% new, and the rest are all various uses. They do that because they don't want too much oak influence in the wine, because they want to sell it sooner than later. And that's where you got these wines that are supposed to go 20 years for you open them. They'll leave them in there for a long time because they got plenty of time to hit their bounce, so they want to try to get the barrels just right, so it's ready to go. When it's ready to go, you know, a year after it's it's out of barrel, it should be fine and it is.
Speaker 1:
5:52
Sips well. It's a nice wine. It's got a lot of dark brew flavors, got a little sour cherry at the end. It's got some spice. It's got maybe some molasses. It's a good wine. It's a Dona Paula Single Vineyard Malbec 2023 from Argentina. Costco's got it for $11.99, but so does a few other places. It's worth getting anywhere. That's it for me. Domain Dave cheapwinefightercom. Like us where you like our podcasts. It always helps. It's amazing. That's the only system we have in this day and age that someone's got to like you. Well, I guess you're supposed to like. So that's it for me. We've got more wines coming up. The new year is just starting and though it's kind of a strange year for wine, wine was off like 10% last year and they're not coming up with anything new. So we'll find something. So, adios, keep it cheap and stay warm, and I'll be.
