TN: Argentine Malbec

[jrufusj]

1998 Tapiz Malbec Mariposa - Argentina, Mendoza (1/2/2005)

Still deepish purple and solid to rim. Looks like very young wine. At first, nose is completely dominated by American oak...vanilla, vanilla, vanilla. This doesn't change for half an hour. At that point, a little tobacco and pepper start to come out, along with the fruit. The fruit is sweet plummy fruit, but a little hot smelling, more like slivovitz than fresh plum. On the palate, the wine is full from front to back, with good structure...ripe tannins and a nice little kick of acid and a little alcohol sweetness...and a pleasant depth of fruit. It's a shame that one has to concentrate so hard to taste through the thick layer of oak that has not even begun to integrate. Tannins are fully ripe, but otherwise this one seems really young. If the wood ever integrates...and one can get to the nice blueberry, prune, and cherry fruit without too much effort...this could be pretty good. Absent the overbearing oak, I might have been able to imagine this was from Cahors.

Jim