This wine was courtesy of my brother, who spent some time in Argentina a few years back. This wine has been in the cellar since he brought it back with him.
I’d never had a Bonarda, and despite it being quite widely planted in Argentina, it’s a difficult variety to find out a lot about. Apparently the variety is originally from Piedmont in Italy, but then there’s even confusion about that! Whatever the case, having tasted this wine I would suggest we might be hearing a lot more about Bonarda coming out of Argentina . . .
The wine was a dark, deep red colour with some hints of brick that underscore its 8 years of age. It had a nice nose of dark fruits, well integrated oak, sawdust, and some appealing smoky, tobacco aromas. On the palate it was medium to full bodied, with ripe dark fruit flavours. It was however, in no way overblown and had a nice level of complexity. It had a savoury finish with some chewy tannins and a hint of those smoky/tobacco flavours which I really liked. It's drinking very well now though pretty sure it has at least another 5 years in it.
If I’d drunk Bonarda regularly I reckon I would have really enjoyed this wine. The fact it was something completely new and tasted distinctly different from what I normally drink, meant I enjoyed it all the more! Lovely drop.
Red
