I asked myself the question: “Could I truly recommend a good wine for under 15 pesos?”
The answer espouses my wine philosophy: yes, because taste, by definition is subjective. I, for one, find very few wines that please my wholly pompous palate at that price. Why? Certain things like the expression, character and texture of a wine simply improve exponentially with the use of better starting material (denser grapes: virtues to be explained at a later date) and more sound winemaking practices like hand harvesting (virtues to be explained at a later date).
Having reached a certain level of wine snobbery myself, choosing a good table wine can be just as hard if not harder that choosing a good premium or ultra-premium wine, especially since there are so many of them out there. Here are some commonly found wines on your local supermarket shelves that all cost less than $15.
Weinart Carrascal. $15. This wine has a decent nose for those of you who like a bit of brett in your wine (think stinky French wine). Smooth enough and easy to drink. Decent fruit but not fruit forward. Acidic finish.
Trapiche Malbec. $10.90. A better nose but one that dissipates quite quickly: sweet and fruity at the onset but after a few minutes the smell simply disappears. Tart cherry flavour and somewhat fruity in the mouth. Not so acidic on the finish.
Quara Malbec. $12.98. Deepest, nicest, most appropriate colour. No notable nose. Heavier and fuller. More tannic. Nice and rich. This is a more aggressive wine that actually displays some aspects of its Salteño terroir. I would rank this as #2 in this group. People who do not like somewhat harsh and aggressive wines should stay away from this, though.
San Felipe 12 Uvas. $11.90. No notable colour or smell. Acidic finish. No real flavour. Not flawed just no personality. Dull. Not horrible.
Callia Shiraz-Bonarda. $13.49. Best smell but dissipates quickly also. Somewhat floral in the nose. Fruity in the mouth with an earthy finish. Very pleasurable. 1st place. Callia by the way has been noted by many of my professional wine colleagues as certainly one of the best inexpensive wines in Argentina.
Graffigna Malbec-Syrah. $12.64. Acceptable nose. Fairly generic table wine although I did find this wine to be remotely pleasing. If I had to pick a different 2nd place wine because of the fact that it’s more generic I would pick this one.
Please forgive the hoity-toity attitude. I do recommend the Callia most out of this group and will be doing a taste comparison of this Callia with other Callia blends at the same price level. I will also compare these wines with other wines at the same price level as there are certainly tonnes of other wines out there in this price range that are sure to have many redeeming qualities.
Daniel Karlin is founder of Anuva Vinos, a premium wine club that hand sources limited production wines from Argentina. He makes his home in Buenos Aires where he offers wine tastings to visitors from all parts. www.anuvawines.com