“These Wapisa Malbecs offer plenty of bang for the buck…”
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It’s been a little slow around here since an upper respiratory ailment paid a visit to our house last month. I haven’t gotten out on scouting missions as much as I would have liked, and when I have, nothing new in the way of wine has jumped out at me. That all changed when my wife Kim and I went to pick up fresh provisions at our friendly neighborhood Costco a few days ago.
This is the 3rd consecutive vintage of Wapisa Malbec that has shown up in the last year. I’ve been impressed by the ’20 and ’21 models, and this one is as good, if not even better than those.
2022 Wapisa Malbec Patagonia, 13.9% alc., $14.79: I gave half a bottle of this an hour in a decanter before pouring a glass, and it’s still big and brash at first taste. Rich, fairly dense and primary, it’s all about black and blue fruit shaded with a little earth, a hint of leather and an intriguing herbaceous note. Full bodied and built for two to five years in the cellar, but give this some air now, and it continues to open and give more and more enjoyment. These Wapisa Malbecs offer plenty of bang for the buck, especially at this price. They deliver lots of fruit with none of the excessive oak char that, for me, mars too many Argentine reds. Highly recommended. Find this wine
“Wapisa” is the indigenous Patagonian word for “whale.” Not only do whales frequent the nearby coast of our vineyards, but a local legend talks of a Wapisa that actually lived on land. Our wines, like the Wapisa, are an expression not just of their soils but of the nearby ocean as well.”
Wapisa imported by Vino del Sol, Paso Robles, CA
Reporting from Day-twah,
Bastardo
