Blog 35: Tasting Xplorador Wine Part 1 with the 3 Wine Girls Alma, Veronica & Lindsay
The 3 Wine Girls ventured out to talk about Xplorador wines. We tasted a Malbec from Argentina. Malbec is the main grape varietal of Argentina. You can find Malbec in California, France and throughout the world. We tried a Merlot made in Chile. Merlot is a universal grape. We also tasted a Carmenere which is a varietal from Chile.
Carmenere was originally a known varietal from France over 100 years ago. Phylloxera was the fault of the United States. We pretty much spread it throughout the world. It killed off the Carmenere grape in France. However, in Chile, in the 1990’s they found a grape that they thought was Merlot, it happened to be the long lost Carmenere. If you look at the leaves of the Merlot and the Carmenere, they are different. The underside of the Merlot leaf is white, and the underside of the Carmenere is a reddish-orangish color.
Carmenere was a little bit of a struggle to grow for France because of the colder weather, the weather in Chile improved the quality of the Carmenere grapes. They thrived on a bit of warmer weather. The Merlot and the Camenere grape also peaked at different times; they ripened about a month apart. Chile was calling the Carmenere grape the Merlot Select.
We then started the tasting, finally, we determined that the bottles were opened and aired prior to drinking. We swirled and smelled. We determined that it smelled pretty and had a great nose. We immediately smelled cherry or black cherry, vanilla and a tobacco scent.
The 3 Wine Girls tasted some red fruit with a very silky feeling to it. It had some spice in it too, like pepper and a little oak. It was also juicy and smooth. We love, love, love the Malbec. Veronica thought it was tweetable. Malbec from the Mendoza region of Argentina is assured to be smooth, silky, inexpensive and good. Argentina is the pro on Malbec. This $6.50 bottle can stand up to many $30-$50 bottles of California Malbec.
The color is deep plum-berry with lots of fruit. You smell everything that happened in the making of this wine. I don’t think that Alma accidently poured an exceptionally huge glass of the Xplorador Malbec. She knew exactly what she was doing. She is no dummy. After filming, she did drink the entire glass.
I rated this wine with 92 points, even though many others may not agree with me on a $6.50 glass of wine, but for my taste buds, it gets the points. Smooth and silky with a smooth finish that brings out just the right flavor in your mouth. Xplorador makes a great Malbec! Now, will the Carmenere and Merlot pass the 3 Wine Girls test!
Tell me your thoughts, make them funny, keep them nice and educate me.
Bon Vin!
Veronica
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