Per the bottle “The vineyards of Finca La Celia lie in the foothills of the Argentine Andes. Stunning purple color. Its bouquet is intense, rich in blackcurrant, vanilla and spices. On the palate the soft and succulent ripe fruits follow through with surprising delicacy. The tannins are silky, coming subtly from the forefront and giving a lingering finish. This is a wine to enjoy with meat dishes and pasta with meat and tomato sauces.”

Long a sucker for the wines of Argentina I have waited endlessly for Trader Joe’s to deliver me a knockout in the super value category as there are an abundance of very pleasing wines available in the $8-$12 price range. But the list of wines that has disappointed me is long and distinguished; La Boca, Terrenal and Fuerza roll readily from my tongue. Could these La Finca offerings change the tides of history? It started off positive with a mention of not only a winery but the website for Finca La Celia. Granted, I had never heard of the winery but for many Trader Joe’s offerings I can spend quite some time trying to determine exactly who it was that made the wine in the bottle. In this case someone was proud that they were behind this one. As I browsed the site it became clear that maybe “proud” wasn’t the right choice of words as there was no mention of the “La Finca” offerings to be found. But hey at least they were willing to admit it! Let’s see what the wine had to say about itself…

Quite a build up, followed by quite a letdown. Hey, I wanted to share my real life experience with this bottle! Surprisingly light in color, really hot on the nose with hints of white pepper. The palate has some berry flavors on top of a highly acidic backbone that holds on through the the finish. This wine shows no varietal correctness and at best is innocuous. Looking at the bottle the 12.5% alcohol content confirms my suspicion that this is much lighter than your ordinary Malbec that typically clocks in at 14-15%. By the way, La Finca is also offering a Cabernet, steer clear of that one as well. Nothing special here.

It continues to puzzle me that Trader Joe’s can’t deliver on my favorite red value varietal. Look like I’ll be stocking up on the Pascual Toso again soon…

It is February 28 and Open Your Bottle Night. Woo hoo! We’ve been looking forward to this. We have two special bottles in our possession that we didn’t choose tonight: 1) A bottle of wine from our two sons, Tommy and Tony (we don’t want to open it until Tony is back from South Korea and we are all together), and 2) a bottle of wine from Tommy’s girlfriend, Amanda, which we don’t want to open unless Amanda is here with us to enjoy it too. So we settled on this Catena Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 from the Mendoza region of Argentina. I bought this wine for Tom for Christmas in 2007 and it, along with the other bottles I purchased, have been stored in our cool, dark basement.

In the glass, this Catena is a deep, dark-violet color with reddish hues. The nose is intense;  focused aromas of ripe raspberries and blackberries intermingled with notes of tobacco and pencil lead. The mouthfeel is muscular, full and concentrated bursting with rich blackberry and espresso. This was a great choice for Open Your Bottle Night with just the two of us. (Of course, we would have chosen something different if our boys were home, but that day will come.) I think our new cyber friends, Marty and Jeannie, would like this wine.

For dinner tonight, I had to rummage through my refrigerator and freezer. I did not go to the grocery store today because . . . well, because I went for a long run (9-miles) this morning in 14-degree weather and it was cold, which takes the wind out of your sails . . . then, after a hot shower and a little lunch, it was time for me to go to a baby shower for a friend of mine from work. By the time I got home, the day was over. So, I took some Polish kielbasa out of the freezer and some cabbage, carrots and onions out of the vegetable drawer. I started by browning the sliced kielbasa in hot olive oil until it was very brown; then, I added sliced onions and stirred those around until they, too, were brown, then added a boatload of chopped cabbage, sliced carrots and some chicken broth. It is now simmering and I am making mashed potatoes for the side. It should be a comforting, filling meal for our last day of February. Spring is near! Cheers!