Weekly Winedown #16 Cuvee Tradition Cahors Malbec

Welcome to the Weekly Winedown. Each week I selflessly drink wine for you and offer a review.
Please don’t expect anything professional, I consume a lot of wine but I’m no pro.

The only real ‘rule’ I’m putting in place is that the wine is to be under £8 a bottle. #keepitclassy.

Bonsoir mes petits amis au vin!

Yes we are in France again today.

Not literally.
Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Drinking wine in a villa in France, all together like a big group of wine drinkers in France!

With last week’s rather expensive but half price Biolett’s Block being terribly good, I decided to follow a similar path this week.

Say bienvenue to Cuvee Tradition Cahors Malbec.

This little lovely, for I hope it is such, should have been £11.99 but was a bargain at £5.99.
I hope it lives up to expectation!

I’m in a surprisingly chipper mood as it’s Friday and I have done some pretty good parenting this week.

We’ve not crafted or anything like that but we’ve barely fallen out.
Games have been played.
Outdoor ‘activities’ have been done and enjoyed.
Cinderella has finally been watched and Aoife’s hair has been cut.
For free
By me.

Winning all over the place.

The children are off to my parents tomorrow for a week too!
This has no bearing on my chipper mood. It is simply coincidence.

So next week is going to be a week for ME, a week full of joy chores and all the things I want need to do.
So far my list comprises;
Gardening.
Cleaning windows.
Hoovering the WHOLE house (as opposed to just the bits I can see).
Sorting toys
Mopping floors.

As you can see, I really know how to live.

That is the joy of parenthood.
Gone are the days when a free week would incorporate a five day bender.
Instead, as a parent, you spend a lot of time thinking of things you would do if the kids weren’t there then do none of them when given the opportunity!

Keeping the dream alive.

We will also be going to London for two nights though so that is pretty exciting.
Though last time we went to London we made Seth – TMI?
That won’t be happening again this time that’s fo’sho’!

Anyway, onto le vin!

The label
It’s nice and neat, kind of traditional.
With a little sketch of the Pont Valentre in Cahors and the coat of arms in gold, it looks the part.
It looks like an expensive label, as if it’s made on a heavy weight paper but it actually just feels cheap.
I’m not drinking the label though so it doesn’t matter!

The blurb
“This is a structured, full bodied yet elegant red made using super-ripe Malbec grapes which have been enriched with a hint of oak. This wine is bursting with blackberry and blackcurrant fruit flavours and would make a perfect partner to all types of roasted meats including beef or lamb.”

‘Structured’ that sounds a bit…stiff doesn’t it?
Is it going to be an uptight wine?
Highly strung?
“Like you” I hear you cry!
Hush now my friends – I’m as laid back as they come.

‘Full bodied’ with blackberries and a hint of oak. It sounds like the kind of wine that starts sharp then mellows after a few mouthfuls,
Let’s see!

The colour is perfect – deep, dark red. My favourite colour, or one of them.

The aroma was pretty weak if I’m honest, I was expecting it to grab my nose like a Malbec normally would but it didn’t. That’s not to say it was an offensive smell, just a bit *french shrug*. The smell that was there was blackberries, just weak ones.

I was expecting a bitter first mouthful but no! It definitely had a blackcurrant burst but was really soft around the edges. If I’m being completely honest it was maybe a bit thin.

ZUT ALORS! Thin wine.

There was a lovely, peppery aftertaste. Very warming but I don’t think warming enough to win me over.
It was certainly no Winter in a bottle as I like a red to be.
If I had paid £11.99 for this I would be mortified. To be fair if I paid £11.99 for any wine to drink at home I’d be mortified.

The Cahors Malbec was entirely unoffensive but also nothing to write home about.
For shame.