2013 Dona Silvina "Fresh" Malbec

Well, now, isn't this an interesting wine? So interesting I felt the need to blow the dust off the ol' wine blog and actually write about it - something I haven't done in the last few months. I don't know how familiar you are with the term carbonic maceration, but it's a winemaking technique generally associated with the Gamay grape and used for wines like Beaujolais Nouveau. Without getting into too much geeky detail, carbonic maceration involves fermenting whole clusters of grapes in a carbon dioxde-rich environment so most of the juice ferments inside the still-intact grape. This results in a very fruity, low tannin wine intended for consumption sooner rather than later.

The grapes for the 2013 Dona Silvina Fresh Malbec, Mendoza are picked early in the season from organic vineyards and processed in a state of the art winery facility employing gravity flow and biodynamic principles. Fantastic magenta color with blueish highlights. Extremely grapey on the nose with fresh blackberry and black pepper notes. So young and fresh on the palate with effusively fruity notes and a subtle prickle of CO2 on the tip of the tongue. Quite dry on the finish, but no tannins to speak of. I rarely buy the same wine twice these days, but I might buy this again to enjoy with lighter grilled fare this summer. Wonderful this evening with grilled flank steak and chimichurri sauce. Not the best $15 Malbec I've ever had, but certainly among the most interesting.