Wonderful Weeknight Wines: Norton Malbec

Here is another wonderful weeknight wine I found at Costco. For $12.59, the 2009 Bodega Norton Reserva Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina is a pretty good wine.

It was purple-black in the glass and super-concentrated. One would think it would be tannic and harsh, but as with most Malbecs, it was high in color concentration but low in tannin. It was very smooth and opulent. 

But what really stood about this wine was its heady bouquet. It's rare that I come across a wine that I'd rather smell than drink, but the nose of this wine was intriguing and complex. The aromatics included purple flowers, boysenberry, rhubarb jam, and spice. The palate offered flavors of cherry pie, white pepper inflections, and cola, followed by a long finish.

This wine was great with mushroom pizza, but it could work just as well with red meat, pulled pork, or spicy Mexican food.