Wine of the Moment: Finca Goulart Reserve Malbec Cabernet

The story goes like this...In 1915, Brazilian born Marshall Goulart was living in Argentina and bought two separate 15 hectare vineyard parcels in the Lujan de Cuyo region of Mendoza and planted them with cabernet and malbec. He was a little preoccupied with the political situation of his homeland and in 1932 he became a leader of Brazil’s Constitutional Revolution. Somewhere during this time the records and titles to the land were lost and not rediscovered until 1988 when his granddaughter Erika found them among some of her grandfathers papers. She traveled to Argentina to reclaim the property and decided she wanted to move there and work the land. She named the winery Finca Goulart in honor of her grandfather and has been making wine there ever since.

I ran across information on the Finca Goulart wines a few months ago and asked to taste them, but they jumped distributors and I didn't know where they had landed. Until last week that is when Linda Smith from Republic walked into the shop with "2 awesome Argentine wines that I think you will like!" And there they were, the Goulart Reserve wines, a malbec and a malbec cab blend. Upon tasting I instantly ordered both, but it was the blend that really stood out and ended up being the less expensive of the two.

Its a 60/40 blend of malbec and cab with the fruit coming from the original vineyards that Marshall purchased in 1915. The nose had beautiful black fruit balanced out by aromas of cocoa and coffee. Very elegant and smooth on the palate with lush blackberries, spice, anise and again a nice coffeed richness, this was QUITE impressive!! Even Kerry, who is not a malbec fan, was won over by this wine.

If you love Argentine wines you need to check this out. Its quality is amazing for the price of $17.50! Check out Tanzer's review:

2007 Goulart Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva Mendoza
Deep medium ruby. Aromas of blackberry, licorice, violet pastille and espresso. Sweet, spicy and intensely flavored, with a creamy quality to the fruit but also excellent energy. Finishes with broad, serious tannins and excellent length. This offers terrific value.