Confessions of a Wino

Does hay fever stop you enjoying wine?  I’ve suffered since I was a teenager, not desperately badly, but some years are worse than others.  Sneezing is easy.  It’s the itchy eyes and the variety of streaming facial liquids that really irritate.

Normally I get it early, I look like a tear-jerk long before May is out, whether I have cast a clout or not.  This year has been great, so far.  I write this late June and have hardly seen a symptom.  But today I have a mild dose.  I keep anti-histamine tablets in reserve, in case of emergency.  I am a hypochondriac in many senses but I dislike medicine and avoid it as a policy….except when things get really bad.  I have taken no prisoners, er pills, this year but I was tempted tonight.

I poured a glass of Alamos Malbec and took a sniff.  Snchoooooooorrrrrrggggghhhhhh!  No smell.  Just a loud nasal fart.

I fear that medicine changes ones sensory perception, especially taste and smell.  Let’s not even touch the subject of mixing medication with alcohol and the problems that can lead to.  So should a hay fever sufferer take a tablet before tasting wine?  Nope.  Just blow your nose and get on with it!

Four sniffs, four blows, one snotty handkerchief later, I had established that this Malbec smells like most others – cherries and chocolate, dark and moody.  Two more blows and three mouthfuls later I concluded that the taste included some not-quite-ripe blackberries.  Not a criticism, but it added a tart, sour flavour to the bitter notes.  A bit like a natural yoghurt, lactic acid plays with your taste buds.  Actually I love natural yoghurt and breakfast on a pot, many a morning.

At the price I think it is an excellent wine.  At 13.5% it is much less “in-yer-face” than many Argie Malbecs.  This is a great wine for sharing with friends at a party, or barbecue (make sure it is away from pollen sources).  But I think spending a couple of quid more on a bottle is probably worthwhile if the Malbec is for your private cellar, and personal enjoyment.  Selfish?  Moi?

I picked this one up at Majestic for £6.24.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 9:02 pm and is filed under south america. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.