Ricardo Santos Malbec

Ricardo Santos is the former owner of the Norton Winery and thirty-some years ago he was the first wine producer in Argentina to export Malbec.  Unless you’re new to wine or have been living under a rock you know that now Argentine wine is almost synonymous with Malbec.

Given Santos’ history with Malbec, I was really excited to taste this wine.  What I found was not a typical Argentine Malbec.  It was much more earthy and not as “big” as a lot of other Malbec.  We usually taste blind, so in full disclosure I’ll have to say that I didn’t taste this one blind.

There is not as much intensity on the nose as I was hoping for, but it opens up after a while.  I am surprised at how strong the alcohol fumes are, given that it’s just 13.9% abv.  That’s not really a low alcohol level, but the fumes would suggest a higher level.  Fruit is not dominant on the nose, giving way instead to coffee, smoky cedar and soy sauce.  There’s a little fruit, but it’s restrained.  On the palate, the fruit comes to life a bit more with blackberry and black currant flavors.  There’s a touch of chocolate on the mid palate and sour cherry on the finish.  In a way, it tastes under ripe to me.  It’s a decent Malbec, but not a big-juicy-ripe-fruit one.

Wine: Ricardo Santos
Variety: Malbec
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.9%
Rating: 84
Price: $19.00

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.