Today, I’m sipping on a bottle that I found in my wine cabinet, Eccentric Malbec. It’s a value wine and it’s coming up on its 5th birthday this year–which by my house rules means, “Down the hatch!”
My wife loves inky red wines and we used to never come home from the supermarket or wine store without a bottle or two of Mendoza Malbec. They’re awesome wines for grilling and they’re robustly flavored without being overly tannic or boozy. And the price is right. But over the past few years our taste has branched out and I’m just not pounding as much Malbec as I used to.
Eccentric is made by Grupo Peñaflor, leading wine company in Argentina and the largest Malbec producer in the world. The winemaker is Opi Sadler, of the La Mascota Winery. La Mascota is a mid-shelf brand we’ve enjoyed in the past and their wines tend to rate well against much pricier bottles in blind tastings. It’s safe to say that Grupo Peñaflor knows their Malbec–but how will this ~$10 version hold up?
The front label is metallic and edgy, all copper foil and distressed sans serif fonts. Not usually a good sign. “ECCENTRIC” it proclaims in all caps, as if it’s crazy to crave some dark red juice on a Saturday afternoon. On the back of the label is some nonsense about the llamas and chickens that roam the vineyards–also not usually a good sign.
We pour it up. It’s an intense red berry color. Strong black plum and black cherry aromas, with a heaping teaspoon of baking spices dominated by cinnamon. A hint of wild berry and brambly fruit, all smoothed over by vanilla sugar.
This wine smells sweet, and it tastes…well, almost sweet. I haven’t totally learned to distinguish dessert aromas from residual sugar, but this wine has both. There’s ripe Bing cherry, raspberry coulis, and mocha. Tannins are round but abundant. The palate adds more red fruits and some balancing acidity, but overall this is ripe, dessert-y, cherry-chocolate type of wine.
There’s a few savory notes, too, as the wine opens up: A fleeting green-ish flavor (pineapple leaf?) and a trace of chipotle/smoked red pepper that combines with the mocha for a mole-like finish. The label claims violets, but I don’t taste them. Anything floral in this wine is bowled over by the orchard fruit raining down on your palate like hail from the Andes.
Both Sarah and I decided that this wine is well-made but sweeter than we like to drink. “Full-bodied fruit bomb,” was her conclusion. To be fair, we were both treated to an in-depth tasting of some premium Mendoza wines earlier this week. All were a lot drier and spicier, which may have resulted in a tilted grade for this budget bottle. If you like some lingering sweetness in your reds, tack on a couple extra points.
Overall, Eccentric Malbec is a soft, agreeable wine. It’s velvety and fruit-forward and a great value. It could be a good house wine or BBQ wine. With its abundance of black/red fruits and smooth, mellow character, it’s a Malbec that effectively splits the difference between Merlot and Cabernet drinkers. (In case you don’t care to stock both.) I’m glad I rescued Eccentric Malbec from the wine rack under the bar sink, but I probably wouldn’t buy it again.
Bottle: Eccentric Malbec (2020)
Variety: Malbec
ABV: 13.5%
Suggested retail: $10.99
My rating: 6.2 (out of 10)
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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