Bodega Colome Valle Calchaqui Malbec Estate 2006

A very nice Malbec that,s round, smooth, fruity, plummy, med tannins, and a long finish.

Great wine. Some old-world qualities that surprised me - not a fruit bomb in the least! Lots of interesting character of earth and smoke, nice minerality. Worth the price and will buy again if I can find this vintage!

Fairly rich nose, rich body. Soft, but plenty of tannins. Balanced medium- acidity. Juicy. Black fruit. Hint of mint. Moderately simple, but very tasty.

Malbec had to leave Bordeaux to find its true calling in Argentina. Maybe it loves heights? Colome's is grown at 8600 feet, a great argument. Ripe New World fruit balanced with Old World structure.

Needed patience to open up, but once it got there it was pulling strong oak influences over some concentrated berry fruit. Coffee/toffee wood notes with a subtle pepper and plum/raisen push. Tannins are there, but the oak smoothes out the finish. It will be cool to see what the follow up vintages are like. Hope they tone down the wood and let the fruit shine more.

Up until I tried this wine, I was pretty luke-warm on Malbecs but we tried this with japanese-style shabu shabu the other week with shredded raddish in ponzu sauce and the result was amazing as the ponzu sauce made flavors of the wine jump out against the thin slices of prime rib.

This wine took a while to open up and had a nice leathery aroma. Lovely color with lush berry aromas. Loved the smoke flavor and balanced finish. Would buy this wine again.