2015 Bodega El Esteco Malbec Don David Reserve

Community Tasting Notes (6) Median Score: 87 points

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  10/17/2020 - smcisaac Likes this wine: 88 Points

  Pleasant and typical, but not amazing, South American Malbec. (A little past peak, perhaps? Drink up now; no reason to hold longer.) Nevertheless, a very good companion to grilled steak.

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  11/20/2019 - Abe85 wrote: 72 Points

  Wasn't terrible but weird dryness. Marie liked it.

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  10/17/2017 - Double-A wrote: 85 Points

  Cherry and currant fruit nose with mineral notes. Med bodied with balanced flavours and finish.
  3/5

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  9/22/2017 - Barolo Drunkard Likes this wine: 89 Points

  Really funky, and toasty and dark aromas; wet autumn earth, roasted ripe plums, chocolate.
  Palate is full bodied, quite silky smooth, Dark Fruity, but not too sweet at all, a tad old worldly (if thats a word), earthy and rustically. Quite nice acidity lifts the wine nicely to a medium length aftertaste. This is a great value!

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  9/2/2017 - mjwstickings Likes this wine: 87 Points

  I've always been pretty impressed with the overall value and quality of El Esteco's wines, particularly of its Don David line, and this 2015 Malbec is actually an improvement over previous vintages. It's still a fairly basic Malbec, but it's certainly not stale, gritty, and nondescript, as per my criticism of the 2012. Instead, this is quite lively and fresh, from the high altitude of the Calchaquí Valley, with a nice balance of fruit (cherry, plum, blackberry), spice (baking, pepper), and other savoury notes (vanilla, herbs, barnyard). And it's drinking really well even now, just two years in, with fine-grained tannins and just enough acidity to offset the ripe fruit. Okay, maybe it's nothing special, and it does get a bit too funky on the nose, the fruit drying up and leaving stale flowers and pot pourri (so don't let it linger too long), but it's just $16 in Ontario (a little bit more elsewhere in Canada), and that makes it even more appealing as a Malbec that, unlike many of its peers, isn't too much of a good thing.

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