The main course Mick did a Prosciutto and basil pizzas grilled on the barbeque. Mick paired this with a Chianti which I was looking for to trying as we don’t do a lot of Italian wines on our Saturday night dinners so this would be a nice change of pace. Mick asked me to open the wine and as I popped the cork my first words were ‘Whoa… Holy musty basement Batman!’ The shocking thing was that musty aroma was so strong, I caught it seconds after opening the bottle and the bottle opening was probably close to a foot and half from my nose.
We poured out a glass to taste and sure enough this wine was corked as there was no fruit taste and just a rancid vinegar type of flavour to it. Mick was busying making pizza by this time so he told Amy and me to hit the basement and grab bottle of something off the rack to go with the food. Mick only had one other bottle of Italian wine on his rack and Amy said he was aging that one, so I searched around some more and found a 2009 Ben Marco Malbec from Argentina. I figured Malbec is more of a light to medium body styled red wine and probably would be a good pairing for the pizza.
Opening this bottle and pouring it out, there was nothing wrong with the nose on it; lush aromas of cherry, black licorice, cedar and clove. I loved the nose on this wine as it had such warm comforting aromas to it. Tasting the wine, cherry and hickory/bacon type flavours were to be found. This wine was beautifully crafted as it had a nice smooth medium body to it with acidity and tannin that were in perfect harmony and a finish that lingered around forever. It was a good pairing with the pizza but most of us thought the wine was even better on its own.
Here is the group rating for the wine - Mick – 90, Mark – 91, Kathy – 91, Amy – 90, Overall – 90.5.
Here is the LCBO information on the wine –
BENMARCO MALBEC 2010
VINTAGES 657601
750 mL bottle
Price $ 17.95
Made in: Mendoza, Argentina
By: Dominio del Plata
Release Date: Oct 13, 2012
Wine, Red Wine
14.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Malbec
Sugar Content: 4 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry
Description - The wines of BenMarco are made by Susana Balbo, the Grande Dame of Argentine winemaking.
Tasting Note - The 2010 Malbec contains 10% Bonarda in its makeup and received the same elevage as the Cabernet. Lovely aromas of black cherry, spice box, tobacco, lavender, and earthy minerals inform the nose of a ripe, succulent, intensely flavored wine that offers outstanding value and is meant for drinking over the next 5-7 years. Score - 90. (Jay Miller, erobertparker.com, Dec. 2011)
*Note – this listing is for the 2010 and not the 2009 reviewed here.
The 2010 Ben Marco sounds like it too would be a very nice wine to try; unfortunately the LCBO has minimal stock levels at this moment of the 2010 so trying it will probably be a pipe dream. The release date is October so I will have to keep an eye out for the 2011 vintage this fall.
For dessert, Amy picked up a new La Rocca cake - Dulce Napoleon which is layers of puff pastry and sponge cake, nestled between authentic dulce de leche filling and 35% whipped cream, topped with crisp puff wedges (description from http://www.laroccacakes.com/ ). This was a good way to end the night as it was a lighter dessert than say a chocolate based one as we were all getting quite full at this point.
An odd kind of night but I will say the ‘ups’ (Ben Marco Malbec, Corn Fritter, the Pizza, etc.) more than out weighted the ‘downs’ (Mussels and corked Chianti) and made this a very enjoyable evening.
Cheers!
Mark
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