Vinalba Malbec Touriga Nacional Reserva 2020
Cool Grape Saturday! It’s totally a thing, and when we can showcase a DOUBLE 95 POINT, screaming deal like this for UNDER $16 – you best not MISS OUT!
Sweet baby Superman! We’ve been in this game long enough to know that Argentina has some impeccably awesome wines for brain-meltingly low prices...BUT THIS!? FIFTEEN DOLLARS!! And side-by-side 95 POINT scores, all from the prestigious International Wine Challenge’s Red Winemaker of the Year?! Saturday? More like Satur-YAY!
Ok, sorry for that. Like my buddy, Nathan, says…do better. But I’m simply over the moon with this wine. We featured it several months back, and somehow, it’s gotten EVEN BETTER. It simply rocks, hyper-boosting malbec to a whole ‘nother level – purring, oozing with inky, juicy malbec yumminess, and structure, class, and pretty florals from the touriga national. I’ll say again…wine at this spectacularly low price has no right to be so astounding! A unique collaboration between vintner Hervé Fabre (a Bordeaux transplant who became an Argentinean wine pioneer) and award-winning Portuguese winemaker Rui Reguinga – this wine showcases the interplay of a classic Argentinian malbec (80%) with Portugal’s own touriga nacional (20%). If you’ve never tried this wine, you haven’t lived…can a FIFTEEN DOLLAR gem be a bucket list wine? I vote yes. And this is that wine. At a full 50% OFF?! It straight-up POPS!
I said DOUBLE 95 POINTS, right? The brightly floral and mineral edge from touriga marvelously cuts through the ripe unctuousness of the malbec, resulting in a wine that is plush without being jammy…long, powerful, and elegant from first to last sip. I could drink this every. Single. Day! The BBQ wine of the summer? Oh, yes! Taste and smell black currant, black plum, blood orange, clove, iron ore, candied violets, hibiscus agua fresca, coffee beans, and a whisper of lemon thyme...the force is strong with this one. What are you waiting for?! This is my new default red for each and every time I fire up my ceramic egg this summer. Don’t miss!
** I’m embracing my fan-boy worship of Francis Mallmann here – live oak fire, with a prime outside skirt steak. Nothing fancy…a bit of olive oil, some salt and pepper, flash grilled, and then served alongside a vibrant and piquant chimichurri sauce. Some baked then grilled fingerling potatoes, and BAM…deliciousness done right. **
Mendoza has an enviable array of grape varieties, many of which are planted at high altitudes. The long summers mean the wines have wonderfully pure tasting fruit, and this Viñalba Malbec Touriga Nacional is a great example of this. A collaboration between Hervé Joyaux Fabre and another awardwinning winemaker and friend Rui Reguinga, this wine is powerful but elegant with a rich, complex palate of blackcurrant and plum flavours. The soils in our vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo are stony, sandy loam and have good drainage. The vines grown in the foothills of mountain ranges, more than 950m above sea level. The Malbec vines are 45 years old and the Touriga Nacional vines are 8 years old.
Technical Details
Country: ArgentinaRegion: Mendoza
Appellation: Mendoza
Blend: 80% Malbec & 20% Touriga Nacional
Varietal: Red Blends
Winemaker: Herve J. Fabre
Alcohol: 14.5
About The Producer
Viñalba is a family-owned company, set-up and run by husband and wife Hervé and Diane Joyaux Fabre.
Hervé J. Fabre, born in Bordeaux, arrived in Argentina in the early 1990s when Malbec was viewed as little more than a blending partner.
Seeing the incredible potential of the Argentine terroir, Hervé bought a number of Argentina’s oldest Malbec vineyards (planted in 1908) and in 1992 he built his first winery, Fabre Montmayou, in Luján de Cuyo, near Mendoza.
His Bordeaux background dictates an elegance and subtlety to his winemaking, and since 1992 he has dedicated all his savoir-faire and passion to his wines, being the first winemaker to produce a single varietal Malbec in Argentina.
Pairing Suggestions
Beef & Venison
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