This wine has a beautiful golden hue. Its nose captivates me. Salinity comes first, like a whiff of an ocean breeze. Then comes stone fruit, ripe apricots and peaches. There is a hint of orange peel. The palate is loaded with fruit, a savory saltiness, and a bracing acidity. This is a really well made wine. The finish is clean and lively, with the savory aspects lasting longest.
This wine has a medium ruby color to it. The nose is full of black fruit and savory aromas. Plum, blackberry, and currant bring sweetness, which is balanced by notes of earth, tar, and pepper. The palate shows clean, fresh fruit and a brisk acidity with firm tannins. It's a great chance to add the Gaglioppo grape to your century club list.
This wine is dark red in the glass, almost indigo. On the nose, the savory notes jump out first. Tar, spice, cedar and cigars combine for a superior olfactory presentation. The palate brings black fruit and savory notes together, as plum and blackberry meld with earth, leather and tobacco for a formidable display. The tannins are medium firm, which is great for sipping and functional for pairing with a pan fried pork chop.
This wine has a pale yellow color. The most noticeable thing about it is the incredibly fragrant nose, full of apricots, peaches and pears. The palate offers those sweet fruits as well, with the addition of a bit of earthiness wrapped around them. The acidity is brisk and the finish is sweet. Pair it with cheese, or just sip it, because it is a very nice sip.
The 2022 San Polo Rubio Toscana IGT was made from 100% Sangiovese grapes. The juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks, then aged for ten months in steel and four months in the bottle. Alcohol is just under 13.5% abv and it retails for about $20
This wine is medium-dark garnet. It has a fresh, ripe nose with a hint of funk present. The palate is full of bright, red fruit. Cherry, currant and raspberry flavors dominate, with a brisk mouthfeel of acidity and tannins. A savory side takes its cues from the earthiness found on the nose. Pair it with spaghetti and meatballs.
Your favorite clown movie may be missing from this compendium. Mine is. I suppose there is only so much room on the Internet. Hard choices have to be made. Shakes the Clown didn't make the list. More's the pity. Neither did Clown, The Clown Murders, Wrinkles the Clown, It, The Greatest Show on Earth, and, inexplicably, Joker. Married to the Mob has a great clown scene in it, but not enough to make it a real clown movie.
A Thousand Clowns has only one clown in it, and he's really a chipmunk. The film stars Jason Robards, Barbara Harris, Martin Balsam and Barry Gordon. Gordon was a long-serving member of the Screen Actors Guild, but he played a 12-year-old when this movie was made, in 1965.
Robards plays a single dad who looks after his nephew. He wrote jokes for Chuckles the Chipmunk until it became a J-O-B. His biggest fear is falling into the life of an Average Joe, so he throws real life concerns overboard to hold on to his whimsy. The state doesn't consider whimsy a good environment for a 12-year-old, and they threaten to take the kid from him if he doesn't find work.
He wrestles with the notion of 9-to-5 before caving in for the sake of his nephew. I know that terse description doesn't make it sound like much, but it's actually a pretty good film.
Chipmunk Tinto is made from three wonderful Portuguese grapes: Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, and Touriga Nacional. A nice wine from the Douro Valley, it sells online for around $20.
At the Circus is a 1939 Marx Brothers movie. In this romp, Groucho, Harpo and Chico help prevent a circus from going bankrupt. Where were you when I needed you, guys? In addition to the Marxes, you also get the ever-flummoxed Margaret Dumont and the debut rendition of the song, "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady." You had me at Margaret Dumont, one of the great straight men. Er, straight women.
Some of the circus employees, like the strongman, the little person, and the gorilla, aid the brothers in their quest to recapture the outfit from a hostile takeover attempt. Back then, a hostile takeover was referred to simply as "stealing."
It's a fun flick, and if you're one of those clown-phobic types, just cover your eyes while they're on screen.
Michael David Winery has a Cabernet Sauvignon called Freakshow with some circus types depicted on the label. $15 for a Central Coast Cab is not a bad deal. It's cheaper than buying a circus.
In 1988, someone greenlighted Killer Klowns from Outer Space. That person is probably at least that far from the movie industry now.
The working title was simply, Killer Klowns, but the producers thought people would think it was a slasher movie. In a stroke of genius, they added "from Outer Space" to the marquee, ordered a rewrite, and proceeded to make a cult classic. Think of how easily that changes your perception of a film. National Velvet from Outer Space, The Godfather from Outer Space, and When Harry Met Sally from Outer Space all get a conceptual makeover from that technique.
An online search led me to several Etsy sites which sell glassware devoted to Killer Klowns from Outer Space. If you're into it, have at it. Me, I'll use my standard unadorned wine glass for sipping Mollydooker's Carnival of Love Shiraz. It's a hundred dollar wine. The clowns on the label look more like court jesters at Mardi Gras, but at least it's expensive.
The grapes for the 2020 Cotarella Sodale Merlot were crushed on their skins for nearly two weeks. Then they were fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged in oak barrels for ten months.
This wine is colored dark ruby and shows a ring of deep purple around the edge of the glass. The nose features plenty of ripe, red fruit and a trace of earthy salinity. On the palate, the fruit stands out, while savory oak notes, such as cedar, vanilla and tobacco, drift in towards the end of the sip. The tannins are quite firm and ready to be given a steak on which to work. The finish is lengthy and holds the savory aspect longer than the fruit.
Many of the country's producers still use techniques that have been around almost as long, like natural fermentation and the use of qvevri, large, earthen, egg-shaped pots in which the wine is vinified and aged.
Dugladze Winery is located in the Kakheti region, in the eastern part of the country, in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains overlooking the Alazani River Valley. The 2020 Dugladze Saperavi Muscat is a semi-sweet red wine which combines the robust Saperavi grape with the aromatic Muscat. It clocks in with alcohol at 14% abv and costs around $14.
This wine is medium-dark ruby colored. The nose is quite aromatic, full of dark fruit like plums, blackberries and black cherries. There is also a significant earthiness about it, reminiscent of a wine made from a North American grape, but not that extreme. The palate is semi-sweet and fruity. There is a savory aspect to it and the tannins are very soft, almost unnoticeable. The wine would pair well with cheese or a fruit tart, and it sips wonderfully on its own. I'd like it with a turkey or ham sandwich, too.
This wine is a brilliant purple in the glass. Its nose smells like blueberry, blackberry and currant, as sweet as you think fruit should be. The palate offers a semi-sweet taste, full fruit flavors, with a racy acidity and a firm set of tannins. This wine will pair well with a meat dish, particularly pork or ham. It's not a bad choice for the holiday meal, either.
This wine is a bit on the sweet side, but not completely dessert wine sweet. It is dark purple in the glass and smells of plum and currant. The palate offers those dark fruit flavors, with little else to get in the way, save for an earthy note that drapes over them. I would pair this wine with a fruit and cheese plate, or a pork dish in a sweet glaze.
When I was a kid, my mom was a night owl. She stayed up late and watched TV until the stations went off the air. Yes, Virginia, there was a time before 24/7 television. The local station played an old movie every weeknight after Johnny Carson. Look it up, Virginia. The station was cheap, and they bought only enough movies to last a month before they repeated them. I remember my mom, about halfway through the summer, bitching endlessly about having to watch Taras Bulba and 3:10 to Yuma over and over. The way she threw her whole being into the word Yuma was hilarious. Occasional viewings were okay with her, but not once a month.
3:10 to Yuma is from 1957, the year my sister was born. Maybe that was a trigger for mom, I don't know. Glenn Ford and Van Heflin star in the film, which was based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. Ford is a bad guy and Heflin is the good guy charged with taking the captured murderer to justice. There is only a trace of Mr. Eddie's Father in Ford's performance, and it comes at the end of the movie. No spoilers.
The dusty desert setting calls for a wine that can wet a whistle. Arizona Stronghold takes the names for their wines from Native American legend - Tazi, Nachise, Lozen - which conjure up images of a saguaro cactus and a guy waiting for a train as the tumbleweeds blow by.
Stagecoach is a 1939 classic from the archives of both John Ford and John Wayne. Ford directed Wayne as the Ringo Kid, and both cemented their legendary status with their work. Stagecoach is one of the most lauded films of all time, and you don't have to take it from me. Orson Welles said he watched it dozens of times when he was preparing to make Citizen Kane, although I don't recall too many cowboy hats in Citizen Kane. No stagecoaches, either.
The story involves a few characters sharing a stage traveling through dangerous Native American territory. Okay, a boozer, a hooker, and a whiskey salesman, if you must know. Which sounds like the setup to a joke that carries the punchline, "How far is the Old Log Inn?"
I mentioned that the film has many laurels on which to rest, but the depiction of Indians as ruthless savages is a bone being picked harder harder than your Thanksgiving turkey's wishbone. Since all turkeys have wishbones, did no turkey ever wish to not be decapitated and cooked? Just something that bobs up in my mind this time each year.
For this wine pairing, I'm just going to go generic and let you choose one in your price range. Keep it in mind for Christmas. Sauvignon Blanc goes well with turkey, and maybe you have a few turkey sandwiches left on the platter. Chardonnay will be fine if you have bolder tastes.
1959's No Name on the Bullet finds Audie Murphy playing the heavy, for a change, as a hired killer. He never did any alcohol or tobacco commercials, fearing he'd be a bad example for the youngsters. That's my job.
So, advertising for beer was bad, but playing a murderer was okay? Whatevs. Anyhow, No Name on the Bullet is a film which has been lauded for its chin-stroking metaphysical side, even though Murphy, in the film, does not play a game of chess with death.
19 Crimes wine has the most bizarre backstory of any bottled beverage. The various bottlings are dedicated to British criminals who were sent to live in the Australian penal colony. Conviction of any one of 19 specific crimes earned the luckless lawbreaker a spot on the ship. Among the crimes were stealing fish from a pond or river, bigamy, and impersonating an Egyptian. Professional murder was not one of the punishable offenses. If you get bored with the movie, the criminal on the label tells his or her story through the magic of modern technology.
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Raventos Codorniu is fully committed to sustainability. Not only do they grow organically, but they use a lot of recycled packaging material, they have the lightest wine bottles out there and they even make 12.8% of the energy they use. They're eco-overachievers.
Today's wine comes from Bodegas Bilbainas, which resides under the RC umbrella. The 2017 Viña Pomal Rioja Reserva is made with the aforementioned organic grapes, 100% Tempranillo. The wine was aged for at least a full year in American oak. It carries alcohol at 14% abv and sells online for around $20.
This wine is medium-dark garnet in the glass. The nose gives off a beautiful bouquet of flowers in addition to the fruit. Aromas of plum, blackberry, cassis, coffee and vanilla abound. The palate offers dark fruit with a slightly savory side. Notes of earth, oak and mocha join the fruit. The soft tannins make sipping it a breeze, but there is enough fight there to handle a steak.
The 2023 Foncastel Picpoul de Pinot is made from 100% Picpoul grapes grown in the region of Languedoc, in the south of France. Vinification took place in steel tanks, so the wine is completely oak-free. It has alcohol at 13% abv and it runs $9 at Trader Joe's.
This wine is golden in color. Aromas of lemons and limes dominate the mineral-laden nose. The palate offers a rippingly fresh acidity, and flavors of stone fruit and citrus appear abundantly.
Monkey Business, the 1952 screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks, is one of those hard-to-believe-yet-kinda-funny-in-a-way movies. That's the textbook definition of a screwball comedy, by the way. You could look it up.
Cary Grant plays an absent-minded chemist, and the laughs are welling up already. He has invented a youth elixir, but hasn't tested it yet. Here comes the monkey, so fasten your laughter harness. One of his chimps gets loose in the office and pours the fountain of youth into the office Sparkletts dispenser. You can almost hear the audience giving forth with an expectant, "uh-oh."
Well, everybody and the monkey's uncle unwittingly drink the concoction, sending them into a second childhood. Things get even wackier when an actual baby is thrown into the screenplay. What else could one expect when you keep chimps in your workplace? For laughs, you can't beat this stuff. In addition to Mr. Grant, you get Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe, so the giggles get girly, too.
We haven't sampled an Arizona wine lately, so let's dip into a barrel of Cheeky Monkey Sauvignon Blanc, from Elgin Winery and Distillery. It's a $25 investment, and they say it's dry. Unlike this film's humor.
The Banana Monster was originally titled Shlock when a very young TFH Guru John Landis made it in 1971. He also starred in it, wearing a gorilla suit designed by none other than seven-time Oscar winner Rick Baker. Landis explains that after his success with Animal House, the distributor revived Schlock with the new title. People didn't like it under either name and stayed away in droves. It is notable mainly for Landis being perhaps the skinniest gorilla you have ever seen. Jump cut to the drinks.
Banana wine is an obvious choice here, but you apparently have to make your own, as nobody seems to sell it pre-made. Hmm, I wonder why? Here's an idea: Banana Schnapps. Listen, it was good enough as barf fuel for your high school hip flask. Anyway, you're watching Schlock and complaining about drinking Schnapps? A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, you know.
From 1943, Captive Wild Woman features Acquanetta as the Gorilla Girl. Acquanetta had nothing to do with Aquanet hair spray. John Carradine is seen in what is probably not one of his more memorable roles. If you like finding 1960s TV actors in movies that gave them a leg up, you'll love seeing Milburn Stone in a role other than "Doc" on Gunsmoke.
This movie spawned a couple of sequels in Universal's Cheela, The Ape Woman series, one of which is labeled by TFH Guru Joe Dante as one of the worst horror films ever made. But we live for bad horror films, don't we? Don't we?
Denver's Infinite Monkey Theorem is a winery named after the notion that if you turn an infinite number of monkeys loose in a vineyard, somehow wine would be made. Or something like that. They specialize in canned wine with inventive names like "White Wine" and "Red Wine." It's your choice.
It was aged for ten months in new French oak, underwent full malolactic fermentation, and got the sur lie treatment at 50% for extra creaminess. Made by Albertsons (!) for their Vinaforé Collection, curated by Curtis Mann MW, in partnership with DC Flynt MW. Alcohol sits at 13.5% abv and I snagged it on sale at Pavilions supermarket in West Hollywood. Great wine department there.
This wine has a light straw-yellow color. The nose features peach and pear aromas, with some tropical citrus and minerality. The mouthfeel is full and acidity is bright. The flavor of stone fruit is surrounded by sweet oak spice. The finish is long and bears apricot and lemon notes. I want this with risotto and shrimp. I'd have it for breakfast with eggs and Boursin cheese. I mean, why wait?
It was fermented in stainless steel, which I love to see in a red wine. The grapes in this wine are Syrah and Nero d'Avola. The Bronco Wine website shows no mention of oak, but I think there was oak aging. Alcohol is somewhat restrained at 13.5% abv and it sold for $9 at Whole Foods Market.
This wine is medium dark. The nose is savory, full of tar, earth, tobacco, licorice, plums and raspberries. The palate is similarly dark and savory, with sweet tannins and good acidity. I made a pasta sauce with my first pour, then enjoyed the second pour while it cooked. It was delightful.
First of all, a tip of the green visor to the Trailers From Hell gurus, who named this week's feature Akira! The single word and the exclamation point really make one think of a Japanese monster movie. Godzilla! Rodan! Mothra! Lost in Translation! Well, I let myself go a little too far there. It's not the first time.
I discovered the pleasure of watching Akira Kurosawa's films long before I discovered the pleasure of sipping a good wine. It was in college, a film appreciation class. I remember one criticism which went, "All I got from Rashomon was a stiff neck and a sore butt." That's how I rolled in college, anything for a joke, even one fueled by Annie Green Springs. I was actually criticizing the accommodations at the student center film viewing room. I really liked the film, but there was a joke to be made. I'm still trying to grow out of that habit. Thankfully I did grow out of sipping Annie Green Springs while viewing Kurosawa's treasures.
Maybe the best known Kurosawa film is from 1954, The Seven Samurai. Later translated into English as the western, The Magnificent Seven, this movie has been reimagined more times than A Star is Born.
A village of farmers hire a samurai warrior to help them battle a band of thugs who plan to attack after harvest and steal their crops. This was harder back in the 16th century than it is today. With TaskRabbit, a good and dependable samurai is just a click away. Back then you had to know somebody.
The samurai assembles his team and they go to work protecting and serving like the LAPD can only dream about. Muskets versus swords may not sound like a fair fight, but the bandits only had a few guns and the good guys stole one of them. Also, samurai are fairly good with blades, so the edge was actually theirs.
The villagers who hired the septet couldn't afford to pay much, so in honor of them, let's splurge on our wine for The Seven Samurai. Black Samurai Cabernet Sauvignon hails not from the mountains of Japan, but from the valley called Napa. Hey, it's a cool label. If you can find it, it will cost about $200. There's no discount if you happen to be a samurai, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Kurosawa's Rashomon is the 1950 examination of how the teller tells the tale. Four people give very different accounts of a crime, their stories filtered by their own perspectives. Toshiro Mifune stars as a robber who murders a samurai, if that's what you want to believe. His performance is powerful, a modern masterpiece of acting. During my college days, I briefly tried to emulate Mifune's vocal mannerisms. After a few blown job interviews, I decided to give it up. However, John Belushi used those mannerisms to great effect in his brief career.
The technique of investigating what people say, and how they say it, was later used to a lesser degree in The Conversation. Gene Hackman discovers that the couple on whom he is eavesdropping are not in fear for their lives, they're plotting a murder. We should employ this sort of discretion when listening to our politicians tell us how great they're going to make America.
In the legal world, the Rashomon effect is the name given to the explanation of how different people give differing testimony of the same event. If your lawyer is basing your case on the Rashomon effect, you're probably screwed.
Kurosawa Sake is no relation to the director, but details like that have never stopped me before. Kurosawa Junmai Kimoto is a craft sake, if you will. If you won't, we'll call it an artisanal rice wine. The kimoto style of sake differs from the big brands in that it requires more work, takes longer to make, and costs more. My wife would love it! You can find it for under $30 in a lot of liquor, beer and wine outlets.
George Lucas says he drew heavily from Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress for his Star Wars juggernaut. The 1958 adventure centers on two paupers who agree to help get a man and a woman across dangerous territory. What they don't know is that he's a general and she's a princess. They're helping the couple for money, so they don't really care who they are as long as they get paid. I'm sure you can relate.
Fortress did quite well in Japanese theaters, where movie-goers eat puffed rice, not popcorn, and they eat it from a bento box, not a crinkly paper bag. They were also too polite to talk to the screen. American audiences were spoiled by the grandeur of Rashomon and The Seven Samurai, and were not so inclined to applaud. When they talked to the screen, it was not so much to ask for a refund on the ticket price as it was to ask for directions to where Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was playing. Today, Fortress is regarded as another Kurosawa masterpiece, and it garners as many rotten tomatoes as you can throw.
Fortress Winery of California’s North Coast wine region puts out a namesake Bordeaux style, made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Merlot grapes. It's not hidden, and this Fortress sells for about $30.
CodornÃu is the oldest winery in Spain. They started mashing grapes in the 16th century, that's how old. Their Cuvée Clasico Brut is a sparkling wine, a cava in España. This one is made from Spanish grapes - about a third each of Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada - all organically grown. Vinification was done in the traditional method, alcohol is fairly low at 11.5% abv and the retail.
Raventos Codorniu is fully committed to sustainability. Not only do they grow organically, but they use a lot of recycled packaging material, they have the lightest wine bottles out there and they even make 12.8% of the energy they use.
This fizzy Spanish wine is straw yellow in the glass. The nose hits me as unusual for a sparkling wine, no doubt due to the indigenous Spanish grapes used, about a third each of Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada. Instead of citrus fruit aromas, I get stone fruit, nectarine, dried apricot, some pear, and a healthy dose of minerality. There is a conspicuous earthy element as well. The palate has great acidity, with flavors that remind me of a white wine made from North American grapes. A yeasty, toasty flavor is present, too, and persists on the rather lengthy finish.
Raimat practically shouts that they have been doing "sustainable wine growing for over 100 years." In their Albariño wine, the grapes were harvested separately from two separate organic vineyards in Costers del Segre. A small percentage of the wine was aged for ten months in oak barrels. The 2023 Raimat Albariño has alcohol hitting 12.5% abv and the price I see online is just $10.
This wine has an iridescent yellow color in the glass. Its nose is flinty and mineral driven, with a hint of floral and herbal notes. Those minerals lead the way on the palate, with a flavor of lime buried deeply in the profile. Acidity is refreshing, if not razor sharp, and the finish is medium long with an herbal sensibility. Mediocre Albariño reminds me of gussied-up Pinot Grigio. This wine, though, has the complexity that lifts it above the ordinary. It is a great aperitif, and will pair well with crab, lobster, oysters, anything in a shell, really. Clams Casino? Sure, why not.
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, our three films are simply killer. So are the wine pairings that go with them.
From the title, we can assume that 1965's How to Murder Your Wife is a black comedy. We can also assume that the title probably read a lot funnier in 1965 than it does today.
Jack Lemmon and Virna Lisi star. He's an avowed bachelor and she's the person he winds up marrying during a drunken evening. The couple are introduced when she jumps out of a cake at a bachelor party. Talk about a meet-cute. Yes, kids. That's how grammy and pop-pop met before there was Tinder.
With cake in mind, let's pair this film with a nice Cakebread Cellars Grenache. It pairs well with this movie, and it could pair well with a wedding cake. Unless, of course, it's a cake that someone is hiding in until everyone is drunk.
Now it's dark. Murder By Contract is a 1958 film noir which has held a lot more sway than its initial reception would suggest. Martin Scorsese has hailed the movie as an influence on his style of filmmaking. Vince Edwards stars as a hit man who carries no gun, has no conscience, and takes a little too much pride in his work.
He routinely kills men at the request of his bosses - guys with names like Mr. Brink and Mr. Moon. However, he experiences angst when an important witness in a big case is targeted, and it turns out she's a woman. Nah, he's not the hit man with a heart o' gold. He simply thinks women are too unpredictable to make good targets. He thinks they're trouble. He finds out that in his case, they are.
San Diego County's Cheval Winery has their Bullet Cabernet Franc on offer for $77. It could be an offer you will refuse at your own peril.
Alfred Hitchcock was always pouring drinks down the throats of his characters. The director used alcohol as medicine in many of his films, particularly as a cure for the nervousness his suspenseful storylines caused. If a character survived a near-death experience with a homicidal maniac, a vehicle, or some birds, the next thing heard was likely to be "Here - have some brandy."
In Dial M For Murder Hitch really put drinking on a pedestal. Ray Milland must have had Lost Weekend flashbacks during the filming of this 1954 classic. He suggested drinks to everyone except the key grip, and that offer may have ended up on the cutting room floor.
Thanks to Milland's character, Grace Kelly and Bob Cummings are always drinking. "Have a drink!" "Let’s meet for a drink!" "Sell the ticket and have a drink on the proceeds!" "She's a filthy cook. Let's have a drink!" "Dahling, you framed me for a murder??" "Yes, dear. How about that drink now?"
By the way, have you ever been bothered by the key-in-the-handbag thing? Grace Kelly had just one key? Really? Having just one key represents a rather uncomplicated life. It's hard to imagine a one-key person getting involved in this sort of intrigue.
Further, Milland just reaches into Kelly's handbag and pops the key right out. What else was in there, just a pack of gum? Have any of our gentlemen readers ever tried to find something in a lady's purse? How quickly did you give up?
Another sidebar: The depiction of the rotary phone and its creepy analog workings take on an almost steampunk quality in today's digital atmosphere.
With all that off my chest, let's fire up the movie machine and have a drink! "Won’t you join me?" "I’m afraid it's too early for me." "What's the harm in just one?" "Well, alright..."
Since brandy seemed to be Hitchcock's favorite drink, at least in the movies, let's pair this elixir with Dial M. Most brandy is distilled from grapes, so it's sort of a half wine. Remy Martin VSOP Cognac is made from primarily Ugni Blanc and Colombard grapes. I see it selling online for anywhere from $25 to $80, much more if it comes in a fancy bottle.
I don't know if that’s true for a great number of winemakers, but it did make for a refreshing experience in the world of Cabs. Recently, I was given a sample of Septima Organic Malbec to try, and it was the other way around. The wine was apparently aged in steel, not oak.
Septima falls under the corporate umbrella of Raventós CodornÃu. They have vineyards not only in Argentina, but also in Spain and California. All their vineyards are fully organic. The 2022 Malbec I tried was made in the shadow of the Andes, in Mendoza, a huge wine region in Argentina. The Ugarteche subregion is located in the southern part of the Lujan de Cuyo region. The 2022 Septima Organic Malbec has an alcohol content of 14.5% abv and sells for a modest $14.
This wine is colored medium red. The nose gives aromas of red plums, raspberries and blackberries. On the palate, there are those same fruits, presented in fresh fashion without oak aging. Tannins are medium firm, but the acidity is fresh and tingly. Tart fruit lingers on the finish. I had mine with a vegetable soup I made. I used it in the soup as well.
