Our blind tasting game—without the tasting! Can you identify a wine just by reading its tasting note? We post real Wine Spectator reviews. You use clues such as color, aromas, flavors and structure to figure out the grape, age and origin. Good luck!
Tasting Note: An aromatically alluring version, with notes of dried violet, truffle and milk chocolate leading to a smooth-textured core of ripe plum and cherry tart flavors. Hints of baking spices and vanilla bean fold in and linger on the finish around suave tannins.
And the answer is...
Variety
Our aromatically alluring red has suave tannins and notes of violet, truffle, chocolate, spice, vanilla, ripe plum and cherry pastry. Let’s figure out what it is!
We can begin by eliminating Gamay. Gamays are often floral with distinctive violet notes, like our wine, but they also tend to have low levels of tannins, as well as lively fruit notes and higher levels of acidity that are missing in our wine.
While an Aglianico could show our wine’s rich cherry and plum notes, our wine is missing that grape’s very high levels of gripping tannins. Let’s keep looking!
Zweigelt is next to go. While this grape does produce reds with chocolate notes, these wines also tend to be lighter-bodied with lower levels of tannins.
A Cabernet Franc could show our wine’s suave tannins, dark fruit flavors and spice notes. Unfortunately, we’re missing that grape’s hallmark green bell pepper and mineral notes. Maybe another grape works better?
When made in a richer style, a Malbec could show rich fruit, chocolate, floral and spice notes, along with vanilla notes if it has been aged in barrel. This sounds closest to the mark.
This wine is a Malbec.
Country or Region of Origin
Malbec is an international variety, though it only has a few major footholds across the world. To begin with, it would be difficult to find Malbec plantings in Austria. There are producers working with Malbec in South Africa and Italy, but the grape is used primarily for blends, not single-variety bottlings, in those countries. Malbec likely originates in France, and it is still widely used in the country’s southwest to make less fruit-forward versions with dusty tannins and bramble and leather accents. This contrasts with versions from Argentina (a leading country for Malbec), which tend to have more generous fruit notes, fuller body and notes of chocolate, spices and vanilla. Argentine Malbec sounds like the winner here.
This Malbec is from Argentina.
Appellation
Knowing that are Malbec is from Argentina, we can eliminate France’s Bouzy, Italy’s Molise, South Africa’s Robertson and Austria’s Wachau. This leaves us with two Argentine appellations: Catamarca and Mendoza. Located in northern Argentina, the Catamarca appellation does grow a notable amount of Malbec; but Malbec is just one of several grapes that grows here, and much of the region is still planted to the pink-skinned Criolla Grande grape as well as the white Torrontés variety. Farther south in Mendoza, Malbec is the star variety, and it has helped bring international attention both to this region and to Argentina’s wines in general. Malbecs from Mendoza tend to be richer with ripe fruit, chocolate and spice notes. Between these two options, Mendoza is the way to go.
This Malbec is from Mendoza.
Age
Our wine’s spice and vanilla notes indicate some time spent aging in oak, which is common for Malbecs from Argentina. Keeping this in mind, let’s look at some of Argentina’s most recently released vintages to figure out our wine’s age. Cool temperatures slowed ripening in 2021, and that year’s Malbecs tend to be concentrated with ripe fruit notes and chocolaty, spicy accents. 2020 was a challenging vintage for Argentina due to late spring frosts and a warm, dry summer that accelerated ripening; that year’s wines tend to be red-fruited with mineral and herb accents. The weather in 2019 was somewhat cooler than usual, and that year’s crop was a bit smaller than the previous year; 2019’s Malbecs often feature leather, earth and pepper accents. Of this group, 2021’s Malbecs sound the most like our wine.
This Malbec is from the 2021 vintage, making it three years old.
Wine
This is the Pascual Toso Malbec Mendoza Alta Barrancas Vineyards 2021, which scored 92 points in the July 31, 2024, issue of Wine Spectator. It retails for $50, and 1,200 cases were imported. For more on Argentine Malbec, read senior editor Aaron Romano’s tasting report, "Argentina: Exploration and Expansion," in the Nov. 31, 2023, issue of Wine Spectator.
—Collin Dreizen, assistant managing editor
