Was listening to R4 a while back and they were talking about wines. Malbec was mentioned. Can’t go wrong they said. Safe bet. Blah blah blah….

Was in M&S yesterday buying some bacon and saw a bottle for £8. Thought why not? Give it a go.

The bottle of generic Italian red for £4 from Aldi beat it hands down.

Malbec… Meh…!

*sigh*

And WTF is with all the water taps which turn on and off the wrong way round?

Try a few more; focus on Cahors or Argentina – ignore Chilean and Californian.
Good quality Argentian isn’t cheap so….up your spend.
As for Cahors it’s no longer made as the old-style black wine which I would have loved to taste but it’s still a mouthful.

Get a bottle of Catena, usually around £12.

+1 for Catena. You can usually get it for around a tenner if you shop around. Also, Viñalba is another trusted Argentinian brand and their reserve Malbec comes in at around the same price.

A good Argentinian Malbec should be full bodied, with dark fruit flavours, smooth but prominent tannin structure and slightly perfumed.

Wine is so subjective though so just because the critics are telling you to drink it doesn’t mean you have to like it.

Which was the £4 aldi one?

A good Argentinian Malbec should be full bodied, with dark fruit flavours, smooth but prominent tannin structure and slightly perfumed.

#strangest

“Hype” = “mentioned on Radio 4 once”?

Anyway. Give me a Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon over Malbec any day.

“Hype” = “mentioned on Radio 4 once”?

you should hear what they call a full moon…

I’m not the biggest fan but you can’t dismiss it based on one bottle.

Also, I buy £8 bottles of wine from Aldi rather than M&S. Way better bang for buck.

Malbec is a big bold high alcohol red. If you don’t like that style it won’t be for you. Having spent a lot of time in Buenos Aires I’m a big fan, but as always wine is a personal thing.

Aldi have an own brand Argentinian Malbec that is good (about the £7 mark I think) and there’s a morrisons premium own brand one that is decent enough for about the same.

I had a orange once that was very bitter. Why are they so over hyped about being sweet and juicy, I’ll stick to peaches.

Fillet steak + Good Malbec. As good as it gets. No hype if a good one.

Frankconway- if you’ve not yet tried it, a good alternative to black Cahors is a Tannat wine from Madiran. A good entry level wine and superb value is Aramis, from the Wine Society.

I have big reservations over New World wines in general; whatever sort of wine you like, you can get a good choice from within Europe. Importing wines from across the globe is contributing more to damaging the environment, both in terms of shipping emissions and also in some areas, unsustainable water use at the vineyard. That last especially applies to Australia and California. Wine production in some parts of South Australia will have yo cease altogether soon, as the little water that’s left has so much salt in it…

Malbec always has a staleness about it for me.

Pinotage is the way forward or a Napa V Zinfandel.

once you’ve got past the top of the label all wine tastes good

Dougiedogg, you put wine in an optic?

Try a Carignan instead.

Fitou is mostly carignan IIRC.

Give me a Merlot

Dougiedogg, you put wine in an optic?

No need, it comes in a box with a tap

Fillet steak + Good Malbec. As good as it gets. No hype if a good one.

Quite right….note the ‘if a good one’ comment! I like most of them, but have found some a bit overpowering. Some have also been a bit underwhelming for other reasons, but like any wine its all personal. No one has mentioned LIDL, but they have a couple of Argie Malbecs, one a Reserve which is full on and the other which I like a lot, as it seems to slip down very nicely.

Malbecs from other Countries are quite different in my experience, so not sure if the OP bought a French one?

Malbec Reserva is generally smoother, from the best vines – much like a French Grand Cru.

Cant see the point in buying wine that has been shipped half way across the world, when we have perfectly good wine on our doorstep.

#carbonfootprintandallthatshiz….

On a £6 bottle of wine you’re paying £5 of tax, so with your Aldi bottle the government are paying you a quid to drink it. Don’t think of it as alcoholism, more as a healthy tax rebate

Dismissing all malbec based on one bottle is like riding a 2009 gary fisher and pronouncing 29ers crap at downhill.

JohnX2 makes a slightly exaggerated point
https://www.bibendum-wine.co.uk/media/2667/bibendum-autumn-vinonomics-2018_web.jpg?width=943&height=617

Have found M&S the worst for lower priced wine , just terrible in fact for me I go without or the local corner shop instead, based on 30+ years eligibility to buy.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s just me , but the Mrs brings another M&S bottle in and it’s deja again.

Eh? M&S? Not good value??! Much LoLZ!