To Drink: $5 Wine Vol. 1, La Finca, Argentinian Malbec Edition

E'erbody be like: "oh, you can get really good, cheap wine for like $10."

But, then, I'll be at Trader Joe's and they're selling wine for $4.95, and I'm like, "that's my kinda price!" And I end up feeling like that $11.99 bottle is really pushing it, with its pretentiousness and overall grandiosity.

For the next few weeks, I'll be exploring Trader Joe's $5 wines. It's not just about finding a decent cheap wine. It's WAY more than that, you guys. It's an exploration into the world of grapes. It's about broadening my knowledge of what it means to be a malbec, pinot noir, or some Italian grape I've never heard of. It's about trying Merlot even though I get embarrassed about it (for no reason).

It'll be a grand sensory experiment: sniffing wine aromas, observing wine hues, tasting underlying flavors. I won't touch the wine probably, since it's like, liquid; all the wines are liquid.

For this week's wine review, read more.

I spy: Oskar! PS: ranunculus flowers are one of my faves/super hard to spell.

I dream of being one of those people who knows in their brain bits that xx grape grows best in this region, and that 2011 was a _______ year for xx grapes, but those xx grapes suffered due to rain! Or, even simpler, I'd like to feel more confident in which wine tasting terms associate delicious tastes to me. I tell bartenders, "I like an earthy, fruit forward red that's dry." What the f*%k does that even mean? Is it even true?

SOOOOOOOO, the wine snobs among you are judging me. "How can she possibly get to the TRUTH about wine if she's spending $FIVE?" Well, fancy yourself this: a bunch of wine experts got together and were given two glasses of "red" wine. One was red and the other was white wine dyed red. When asked to describe both "reds," each was described with tasting terms generally associated with RED wines. Not one of the know-it-alls said, "hey wait! This is a whitey disguised as a red." THE POINT IS: experts are dumb. Also, you don't need to spend a lot to learn a lot, which was not at all evidenced by that story. Boom roasted...???

Moving on. This week I'm exploring $5 Malbec. La Finca. 2014. Oak Aged 3 months.

The back of label told me about the 3 months.

First, let's learn some things about the malbec grape. According to Jancis Robinson, who is a wine-splainer in the Financial Times (and who my father introduced me to), malbec grapes:

• Were originally grown in France!!!!!!!! I'm already learning stuff, since I always associate malbec with Argentina;
• BUT, the malbecs in the south-western region of France (where they are grown due to "arid causses" aka dry plateaus.) are tots different than the Argentinan ones;
• BECAUSE, the Argentine malbec grape vines came from cuttings brought to Chile in the 19th century from Bordeaux (likely) and are grown in Mendoza, Argentina at the base of the Andes (probably meaning a different climate than arid causses);
• And, Argentina actually is the most "prolific" producer of Malbec, so I was on the right page;
• Malbec grapes can also be found in Chile, Southern Australia (and taste more like sunshine!), in Bordeaux blends from New Zealand, and rarely in California (USA) and Italy.

Jancis' tasting notes: "deeply coloured, spicily rich with an exuberant juiciness and has as a trademark almost velvety texture." ["U" in colored, because she is British!!]

Food and Wine describes Malbec as: "darkly fruity... with hints of black pepper and leather—like a traditional rustic country red, but with riper, fuller fruit."

Now me! Now me! What do I think of this bottle in front of me?

The carafe is foreshadowing.

The color of this wine is not super luxurious. And based on my tasting notes from experts, I think I would be hoping for something with more depth.

You could also try this wine while watching Friends. Up to you.

As for its taste. We (Michael tasted too) used The Essential Scratch& Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert  as our guide to think about what we were tasting and smelling. So while the title of the book is low brow, the guy who wrote is one of 200 master someliers in the world; he's no slouch. He suggests looking for red or black fruits, wood, earth. (I'll talk more about his book in other posts.)

Michael smelled cherries, blackberries, cigars. I smelled only leather. And a twinge of alcohol. I was worried.

And the wine tasted very light, gone after the swallow. I didn't fall in love, but I wasn't completely turned off. It was just a bit leathery and blah tasting. BUT, interestingly, this was the first glass. THINGS CHANGED after that.

I would never think to let cheap wine breathe. (I only put in the carafe cause I thought it looked cute.) But honest to Betsy! By the second glass, I was feeling that the wine had opened up more and that I was tasting some cherry and vanilla notes. (Or, was it just nicely complementing the amazing pizza we were eating??)

Even still, it wasn't giving me huge, memorable flavors, but it was pleasant enough. I could taste some of the dark fruitiness. It exhibited a few of the traditional malbec qualities, but just more subtly. I'd call this baby malbec. Like, there wasn't a juiciness or richness to it. My tongue wasn't feeling coated in velvet (which actually sounds awful).

This glass is in the jungle.

Final thoughts:

• Was it true to its grape? Eh. It was seemingly too light. Needed more juiciness and velvetyness.
• Would I drink it again? Probably. While eating pizza. Never with something that requires boldness.
• Would I bring it to a party? No. I won't give someone a wine that has breathing requirements.
• Anything to remember? Let it breathe, first. (30 minutes + in the carafe really changed things up)

Whitney's Wine Score (1-42): 21 (Fine. That was fine. Fair enough.)

The Meaning of the Points:

1-10: Hellllllllllllllll no.

11-19: I mean, no thank you. But. Eh.

20-27: Fine. That was fine. Fair enough.

28-34: Sure. Ya. I can drink that again. Soonish, even.

35-40: Oh! How delightful. Yes, please, again!

40-42: Amazeballs. Completely lovely. Excellent. Can I have another bottle, now?