Malma Malbec Reserva 2005, By Bodega NQN, USD 20
Excelent Malbec from San Patricio´s (del Chañar) Valley in Neuquén, Northpatagonia. No doubt the best vintage for Malbec in the decade.Dark and deep red bluish but not violet or purple that slides into the nose with rich fruits,violets and jammy hints.The palate gives out even more details: plum and red and black cherries, ripe and sour. Wide middle palate with round smokiness and dark chocolate. The best part of it. It lacks longer aftertaste to be an outrageous Malbec. It calls for sip after other and to keep it flooding around to enjoy all the richness. A perfect moment of age to enjoy, altough it may keep this way and even evolve into more complexity in 2-3 years. Now 92 points and far away from its partners Merlot, Cab Sau and Pinot from 2005 vintage. A little bit less complex but purer and wilder than Colección 2005 made 60% with this malbec. To my palate this is probably the best malbec Northpatagonia gave in the last decade, clean, pure and deep. A Great Value.
You may recognise the typicity of Northpatagonia here. Wide red sour cherries with firm tannins, much more than Mendoza´s Malbecs, and ripe plum keeping a good acidity. This imprints reaches deeper in Merlot giving some vintages superb wines. By the same token ,if the Pinot Noir is kept soft and taken care of it may give a rich palette likable in a Pinot Noir. On the other hand, I didn´t find any Patagonian with nice spiciness which is more feasible in Mendoza and Salta and specially in La Rioja.
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