2010 Stella Rose Malbec, Vin de Pays du Comté Tolosan ($10)
This excellent wine comes from a little-known appellation in southern France…hence its excellent price! Vin de Pays du Comté Tolosan is one of many specific Vin de Pays appellations throughout the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Do not think that there’s something inferior about a Vin de Pays designation from this area: some terrific wines are made in its name! You just gotta find ’em. I did. One gets a leg up on the hunt if the wine has a varietal name on it (like “Malbec” above), because varietal Vin de Pays has to go through an extra quality-control panel to insure that the wine tastes like the grape from which it was made. In fact, this particular wine tastes so much like Malbec that people have mistaken it for the granddaddy Malbec appellation, Cahors, made not too far away in southwest France. To me, however, it is Cahors “lite”—which is exactly what I love about it. There is a fairly deep purple in the glass, but don’t let that worry you. The nose shows medium-ripe fruit and berries, along with a little sexy violet. It is a generous mouthful, to be sure…but it is extremely bouncy, refreshing, engineered by lively acidity.
Wine4Food
This is a really gulpable wine to gulp right now with all kinds of foods…including the array of goodies on Thanksgiving day!
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