December 28, 2010

Maleta Estate Winery 2005 Cabernets


(Re-Tasted December 2010) ... Well I was right 3 years ago when I predicted this would be a blockbuster of a wine to lie down and that it would need 2-3 years of bottle age to mellow; ha-za for me.  A blend of the obvious Cabernets:  Sauvignon and Franc, though I can not seem to find a percentage in any of the records I have of this wine (let me check one more place) ... well digging a little deeper shows that it might be a titch Franc heavy (by about 6%).  This is truly one of the best re-tasted reds I have tried because it shows so little signs of aging, the fruit is big and in-your-face, on the nose it has lovely black fruit, some definite black cherry and a delectable chocolate raspberry smell develops with some time open.  The taste is also very fruit forward: cassis, blackberry, black cherry with hints of tobacco notes in the background.  Tannins are smoothing but are still relevant and most definitely there. This wine could still use a few more years without much degradation, it'll peak in the next few years but is delicious to drink right now, especially with some kind of meat or pasta dish.

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