2020 Wood Family Vineyards Malbec with Carne Asada
The Wine
Photo ©Michael Kelly
This wine on the eyes is medium viscosity with a deep royal purple coloration, yet around the rim it is almost translucent. On the nose blackberries and dark red plums are the leaders rushing in to claim dominance in the olfactory senses. Also present were violets and roses. On the palate almost overpowering black and dark red fruits (blackberries and plums) come to the forefront with tobacco, French oak, chocolate, black licorice and fresh leather. The finish is velvety smooth with medium acidity and rounded embracing tannins with no sharpness. Also on the finish the presence of ground stone minerality provide a juicy and mouth filling finish. Alcohol was 15.1 % and listed at the winery at $36/bottle. This Malbec has been on my list of Best Wines Tasted Yearly for the last three years and continues to be in 2023. Heard they just bottled the 2021 Malbec this last Monday and it should be released this early summer.
The Food and Wine Pairing
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Dinner with this wine was a special Carne Asada. The ingredients included, fresh chopped Serrano peppers (3 with seeds) rather than Jalapeño peppers , olive oil, soy sauce, fresh squeezed orange and lime juice, minced garlic cloves, ground cumin, Kosher salt, ground black pepper marinated for 24 hours with a flank steak. The steak was seared on the BBQ with an infrared ceramic burner at between 1200 to 1400 degrees for about 3-4 minutes a side along with Serranto peppers roasting on top of the steak. Topped off with fresh minced cilantro, fresh marinade sauce and a modicum of fresh squeezed lime juice. Accompanying the meal were roasted quartered potatoes, fresh garden salad and broccoli. The Carne Asada was flavorful and spicy with a little more punch than using Jalapeño peppers. This is now one of our go to summer food pairings! It will definitely make my “Best Wines Tasted This Year” again (comes out each December).
This Malbec with its fruit surrounded the spicy meat and cooled it off to be absolutely a wonderful pairing.
Sláinte,
Michael
California Wines & Wineries 