$7 Single Vineyard Goodness-Aldi Specially Selected Uco Valley Malbec 2025

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Hey, Domain Dave, cheapwinefinder.com. Again, another value priced wine to talk about. Um Today's the uh $6.99 Aldi specially selected Uco Valley Malbec 2025. It's also a single vineyard wine, but that didn't fit into the title. And so what do we got here? Oh, the funny thing is the um this is a wine from the Uko Valley in Argentina, which is in inside the Mendoza Valley. It's high, it's a high altitude um growing region. Um we'll talk about that in a little bit. Trader Joe's, uh and I put a link to it, uh, had a 2021 uh Balhara uh Uco Uco Valley uh single vineyard malbeck. That was $8.99, and I think they had an I hey one of those growers reserve malbecs that might have been $6.99 too. So this Balhara Single Vineyard stuff has been around. You could have got it at Trader Joe's, and now Aldi's getting into the act, and it was perfectly fine Malbeck at um Trader Joe's. So here we go. Specially selected um, specially selected uh wines from uh Aldi are usually pretty good and they're usually bargains. They tend to be wines from premier growing regions at a really good price, and that's what this is. Um as a single vineyard wine, and uh the trader Joe's ones actually name the winemaker who was the winemaker for the Balhara Estate. And here I just assume it is. I don't think they would have shipped someone down there to do this. And so this this is grapes that they know that they grew. A lot of times you get Californiana wine, not being that in like it could be from anywhere. Not that it's a bad thing, as long as the the winemaker chose his grapes properly, it's fine. But here you know where the grapes came from. I'm gonna take a sip. It's bright and juicy, but it's not a fruit balm. It's got blackberry. Um kind of really ripe blackberry. Got some spice, some herbs, maybe some plums just to help juicy it up, maybe some pomegranate. Kind of got lip smacking cream going on, which is always nice. Um, and you don't always get it in a red wine, you get it in white wines, but is the acidity? And I wouldn't say this is an acidic wine whatsoever. Uh the alcohol is only $13.5, which in this day and age is fairly low for a red wine. And um and at $6.99 it's just a good tasting everyday wine. I can't tell you there's something wrong with it, because there is, it's a fine wine. Hmm. The difference between what is a fine wine and what is a like a um not so fine, like a bulk wine, it's like $11. If it's over $11, it falls into the fine wine category. Under it's bulk wine, but that isn't really accurate anymore. Uh things have changed so much that you can't really put it. I mean, it can go that way, but it doesn't have to be this way. And if Balharo was selling this Malbec, I would imagine it's over 11 bucks. You know, under its own name. And to get it on the shelves, there was a time when Malbec was all the rage, and that fire's gone out. Um, so let's talk a little about uh Malbec in Argentina. You know, during the floxra days in the 1800s in France in Bordeaux, Malbec was one of the grapes that got hit the hardest. To the point where they pulled up a lot of it because it just wasn't worth growing it because they were it was getting devastated. Um, and to this day you don't catch Malbec a lot in Bordeaux wines. And it got to um Argentina, there's a couple of different stories that they stole some grapes or they got shipped grapes and thought it was uh Merlot, and for the longest time Argentina was known for bad Merlot. And someday one guy came along and um said, What are you doing? This is Malbec, not Merlot, and they had to re-figure how to how to work the vineyards, and they had to re figure how to look for the winemakers or how to grow it. So and then they went, oh wait a minute, because it's so high up and there's no pests can live that high up, Malbec kind of grows and does well, and plus it's kind of desert there, and they would maybe get irrigation from the mountains because the Andes are up there and all those mountains, and they would irrigate just enough and Malbec dry. So it's you know, a Malbec, if you like a good Bordeaux quality red grape, well that's it. You want a really nice price in this day and age when everything's off, um getting back into Malbec isn't a bad idea. Yeah, that sips grape. Nice fruit. A nice, you know, some spice and some herbs just to give it a little bit of color. Some pomegranate, maybe some dusty tannins. This wine's got tannins. It's a properly made wine. Often wine will kind of make winemakers are kind of diminish the tannins because people tend not to like it or get used to it. It's like bitter coffee. When you first drink it, go, what is that? Why do people like this? And after a while you you like it. So it's tannins are good, and and this wine's got it. Um, it's got good acidity, it's got good flavor. Ah, there you go. $6.99. It undercuts uh Trader Joe's wines. So you got the Aldi specially selected Uko Valley Malback 2025. It's a bargain. I mean, for $6.99 for a immensely drinkable, you could have steak with this, you could have um all sorts of salmon. You know, comfort food would be great with this. It's a nice wine, a really nice wine. So there you go. Um, I've got a Amador County Zimpandel coming up next. We'll do that in a few days. So adios, keep it cheap. Um, domain day, I'll be talking to you. Adios, bye bye, keep it cheap.