Wine Forum ~ Wineweb.com

Carmenere

Fri, 08 May 2009 12:35:07 -0600

I love Carmenere, especially Chilean! Casillero del Diablo makes a good one for around $10.

Carmenere

Fri, 08 May 2009 11:14:06 -0600

Welcome a-"board" Karla.

I just picked up a bottle of Santa Rita 120 Carmenere; hope to try it this weekend.

Carmenere

Tue, 05 May 2009 13:14:46 -0600

Hi, have you tasted carmenere?
Last weekend I was with some frends and we tasted a bottle of Casa Donoso Carmenere 2005, I it was very good, I could find aromas of chocolate and cigar box. I liked this wine a lot.

Shouldn't Malbec get its own category?

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:58:24 -0600

Oh, you meant should it have its own "sub-category".

That's the only defense I have.

I likely will continue to look right past the obvious.

Shouldn't Malbec get its own category?

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:26:45 -0600

That's a good idea. We've added a Malbec category.

Shouldn't Malbec get its own category?

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:11:25 -0600

seems that if I put <br/>, I get the formatting I was expecting.

Shouldn't Malbec get its own category?

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:07:35 -0600

BromBordoo, my question was not quite as loaded

I was merely asking whether it should have its own category here in the Wine Types Forum. I'm inferring from your answer, that the answer would be no, or at least not yet.

That said, you provided very helpful background information, and I thank you for that!

Cheers,
Pascal.

PS: can't seem to get the formatting right. No matter how many empty lines I put, they all disappear

Shouldn't Malbec get its own category?

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:54:48 -0600

Wow, that's a loaded question and there's loads of answer too.

First we have to know what you mean by "category", because certainly in a couple of ways, Malbec already has "its own category like Pinot or Cab".

Plainly it is its own vitis vinifera varietal. It might be further cateloged as red, lesser varietal in Bordeaux used for blending, lead grape in the Cahors in the Southwest, made varietally in South America. As you note, one can buy Malbec wines.

If you mean "category" as in stature, it is arguable whether or not Malbec deserves to be in the same category as Cab and Pinot. It is certainly not as popular as wines featuring those grapes, nor can it command the prices achieved by Bordeaux, Burgundy and indeed California wines. Generally speaking, the very best Malbec wines are thought to not reach the heights of quality or breadths of qualities achieved by both Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir.

That is among the reasons it is spoken of as a "lesser varietal". Further, right or wrong, for many years the English-speaking world valued wine and grapes as they were valued by French producers, particularly those in Bordeaux and Burgundy, who valued CS and PN above all other red grapes.

In is most widely grown in the New World in South America IMO chiefly because Chile and especially Argentina are relatively new "big players" in international wine. They had room to do so and could afford to plant Malbec for varietal production. Established growers have already committed their acres to grapes with a proven high demand; it takes many years to start producing wine from newly-planted vines.

A real factor is certainly climate as well. The grape is grown in relatively small quantities in cooler areas of California. One producer of CA varietal Malbec is Laurel Glen, known for its economically priced and well-thought of wine REDS.

Ten, maybe fifteen years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find any Malbec except Cahors. Count yourself lucky that today South America produces a fine red that you like and can buy.

Oh, might as well try a bottle of Cahors.

Shouldn't Malbec get its own category?

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:32:33 -0600

Lately, I've discovered Malbec (mostly from South America), but I have even found one from California! Shouldn't it get its own category like Pinot or Cab?

Yugoslavian Wine

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:30:51 -0600

I heard that the very best wine in Roman Times came from Macedonia and what is today called Croatia. After the war in the 1990's, farmland is of course very cheap in Croatia today, and I have often wondered if such property investment would be a smart move - buy a new cozy hillside just plant the vines so you could sell the property as a vineyard in five years...