Dysfunctional Family

Talk about two different approaches to wine making. These two are from the southern hemisphere, but from opposite sides of the world. The appropriatley named Del Fin Mundo, Malbec, Reserva, 2004 is from Patagonia in the south of Argentina. It is another attempt to find an Argentinian gem. This one is black, black, black in the glass. Talk about extract - how they get this much colour in a wine is amazing. On the palate it is super dense and thick, but the fruit is either absent or it's hiding behind all that darkness. So, a "good" wine, lots going on, well made, but tough to enjoy right now. It may do better if it opens up in the future. A steal at $13 a bottle, if you like this style of wine (all you lovers of Madiran and young dense Bordeaux, stand up!).
Tonight's wine is a bit of a (pleasant) surprise. The d'Arenberg, d'Arry's Original, McLaren Vale Shiraz-Grenache 2002 is not quite as inky black as the Mundo, but it shares the dense mouthfeel with the bonus of ample berry fruit - it is almost a fruit bomb, but with backbone. Long finish. Ooodles of style. I thought it was going to be a ho-hum aussie middle of the road effort, but I give it a solid "good", it is short of being a "wow" wine because it lacks that chewy vanillin oaky undertone that I like. A solid buy at $20.
Cheers!!