2009 Bodega Piedra Negra (François Lurton) Malbec Gran

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 83 points

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  5/21/2014 - forceberry wrote: 83 Points

  Made from the best Malbec grapes from the organically cultivated Chacayes vineyard. Fermented with natural yeasts in oak tuns while macerating the skins in the fermenting wine for 7 weeks, after which the wine is left to settle for 3 months. Then moved to barriques (50% new, 50% used) where the wine is left to age for a minimum of 15 months.
  
  Concentrated, opaque purple color. Somewhat subdued but very ripe and sweet nose with rich, succulent aromas of ripe dark fruits, molten milk chocolate, some dark chocolate shavings, a little cassis and a hint of eucalyptus. Unlike the nose, the palate is crammed full of everything (except acidity). Huge loads of extracted, pruney fruit, ripe dark fruits, dried figs and sweet'n'spicy oak. Quite high in tannins, giving the wine a dense and chewy texture, but due to the lack of tannins the wine feels a bit flabby and dull. The high-ish alcohol (15%) gives the wine a rather hot mouthfeel, whereas the concentrated fruit makes the wine come across really mouthfilling, soft and round. The finish is long, rich and complex with quite pronounced alcohol warmth and powerful flavors of ripe plums, cocoa oak, some leather and a hint of dried date sweetness.
  
  A super-concentrated, dense and chewy wine lacking any sense of place - a humongous mega-Malbec that could come from anywhere in the world (were Argentinians not the only ones growing Malbec extensively in the new world). As wine markets seem to favor once again wines with structure and elegance, why some wineries still insist doing monstrous fruit bombs like these? Probably a good purchase for people who enjoy oaky fruit bombs with heavy concentration, but people who enjoy wines of sophistication and poise should find very little of interest here. At a price of 24-30€ this wine shows rather poor value.

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