Finishing up week one of our dive into Chilean Malbecs and one which was certainly the most fun to procure, and it involved pouring a few small samples of non-Malbec-related whisky as trade. Was it worth it? Possibly. Any time there's trading involved everyone wins, right?
Nose: A big blast of herbs and tomato mixed in with some black olive. As it sits the nightshade component sits back and the herbs and bit of blackberry develop and expand. This one definitely needs to air out for quite a bit of time.
Palate: The sweetness develops and the herbs are replaced by a hefty dose of black pepper. It's approachable, but only if given time to sort itself out. The berry influence eventually arrives, but it never really decides on where it wishes to go.
Finish: Long. The berry eventually gets drown out in acidity and the herbs take more of handle in leading the confusion. With time there are odd graphite and menthol notes piling on the identity crisis in good form.
The first full week has been surprising in its variety and wide range of flavor profiles. I'm not sure what to attribute this to, but hopefully future weeks I'm able to hone in on some sort of consistent theme or catch here. It's going to take some time, and there are only so many bottles at my disposal.