WTN: 2004 Altos Las Hormigas Malbec Reserva

2004 Altos las Hormigas Malbec Reserva Mendoza 14.4%
Picked up a few of these in the not-so-long-ago Days of Wine and Scores. The few remaining bottles have taken on the annual purpose of seeing what happens to a quintessentially modern malbec as it enters middle age. The cork was crumbly and the wine seemed muted, so into a decanter it went for an hour. In the glass, aromas were rich cocoa, plum and vanilla with lots of alcohol. Over time, a pleasing rubber note crept in. Mouthfeel was thick, almost creamy. Alcohol feels salient and poorly integrated, definitively too hot for my taste. In intensity, the acidity is a match for the sweetness, but the fruit has a shorter finish, so the acidity that lingers morphs into bitterness. Still young but, at age five, still gangly and ungainly.

[David M. Bueker]

Doesn't sound promising. Too bad. I wonder if the grape skins were left in too long (to get that inky color level) & imparted bitter end notes.

Doesn't sound promising. Too bad. I wonder if the grape skins were left in too long (to get that inky color level) & imparted bitter end notes.

That could definitely be it.

The other possibility is, of course, something to do with acidulation. Referring back to that thread about a tasting with the winemaker from Louis Jadot, I wish I had a better handle on differentiating between natural acidity and the two kinds of added acidity: in the must (not so bad, according to Allen Meadows, but unpredictable with respect to final result) and in the wine (predictable, but bad, bad, bad).

Apparently, malic is the only acid that goes down as grapes mature; tartaric doesn't, so I wonder if too much tartaric (added or natural?), unlike lactic or even malic, might sometimes be the cause of excessive bitterness.

[David M. Bueker]

If tartaric acid is the source of bitterness then I might have found a good bit of it in the 2003 Germans. Haven't seen it do far.

If tartaric acid is the source of bitterness then I might have found a good bit of it in the 2003 Germans. Haven't seen it do far.

Acidification is verboten in Germany, right? I was mostly thinking of acidified wines. The sensation of "poorly integrated acid" may be due to acid lingering in the mouth after the fruit fades, and this separation might be more likely if the acid is added later.

[David M. Bueker]

Acidification is not verboten. Lots did it in 2003. Some deacidify at times as well. I'm hearing tales of it in 2008.

I am shocked! Sons of guns...