WTN: Altos Las Hormigas Malbec 2006

Mendoza

Decanted about 30 minutes before dinner.

Very dark purple, almost black, in the glass.

Nothing much on the nose.

Very creamy and smooth in the mouth, raspberry, black cherry, chocolate, tangy, lightly floral, quite dense and saturated, spicy, showing some hardness toward the end. With time, the wine did open up and smooth out a little, but I think it would still benefit from 6-8 months dozing in a cellar.

A drying finish with light tannins.

Purchased at $12.95 (Canadian).

I used to be a big fan of this estate but find some of their wine/s to be too "international". No emails please!!!!

Bruce... I agree this wine needs some time.... I bought 6 bottles of this wine/vintage in Magnum format for my personal cellar and will lay them down for at least another 18 months. I think that the regular bottling is a better value than the reserve.... although the 2006 reserve is a far better effort than the last 2 vintages IMO.

Alejandro-not to highjack Bruce's thread, but what do you think of the Luigi Bosca "Reserve" Malbec? I was really impressed by the 2004 at a tasting last week. (The $35 prestige blend with Malbec and Tannat was much oakier-another 6 months in French oak, it said).

Brian: IMO, Luigi Bosca is a solid producer, with consistent quality and for the most part a very reasonable QPR. Having said this, its not a producer that blows me away.... sometimes I feel they produce good wines but thats just about it. The Malbec Reserve is good... but I think that the best buy in this category from LB is the Malbec DOC. Worth the extra $$$ me thinks.