Elsa Bianchi Malbec 2004

This bottle, attractive though it is, is currently sitting on the kitchen counter and not a soul wants to touch it. I'll admit that this disappointing wine was purchased on the basis of it's pretty leaf-shaped label, and little else. So I suppose I got what I deserved.

Malbec is one of the most important of the Argentinian red wines. 70% of all wine in Argentina is made in Mendoza, and the malbec grape is the most important of all grapes in Mendoza. While malbec is often blended with other grapes to make wine, the Argentinian malbec is able to stand on its own... except in this case apparently.

This wine was a deep redish purple with a nose of strong alcohol mixed with berries. The taste was of bitter dark grapes and alcohol, with a sourish flavor. I suppose it's possible that I got a bad bottle, but it had a (gasp) plastic cork and I thought that manufactured corks were supposed to prevent a wine from turning.

I won't rule out Argentinian malbec in the future, but I might try something that's been recommended, like Felipe Rutani or Tapiz, both of which were mentioned in Karen MacNeil's Wine Bible.