Foreign fling

Cathy van Zyl MW looks at foreign wines available in South Africa

Index to previous columns
Listing of local distributors and importers of non-SA wines
Listing of retailers carrying non-SA wines

Two from Argentina 7 March 2007

• Finca Flichman Oak Aged Malbec 2005  R45

• Finca Flichman Reserva Malbec 2005  R66

For availability, contact the importers, Melgab International Email; Website

Finca Flichman, now owned by the Portuguese wine group Sogrape but founded in 1873 by the Flinchman family in the Maipú district in Argentina’s Mendoza wine producing province, fancies itself as a red wine specialist. Robert Parker also fancies it, apparently, calling it ‘probably Argentina’s finest winery’.

Using predominantly malbec, syrah and cabernet sauvignon, it produces wines of varying quality levels from entry or basic quality, to premium blends bottled under the name ‘Caballero de la Cepa’ for example, to terroir-specific offerings such as the Paisaje de Tupungato and two blends bottled under the Expresiones label.

The two wines reviewed here are not the company’s flagship wines but they are probably its most widely exported.

Half of the grapes for the Oak Aged Malbec come from Finca Flichman’s own vineyards, and the remainder from winegrowers with whom the company has long-term relations. Both lots are fermented dry in stainless steel tanks, where the wine completes malolactic fermentation before ageing for just three months in oak barrels, and a further three in bottle before release. There’s no mention of age or size of the barrels but, as you’ll see in the tasting notes, the oak may have been heavily charred. Its alcohol is 13.4%.

The term ‘Reserva’ suggests a better quality wine with extended ageing usually in oak but not always, as the term ‘reserve’ would suggest in the South African context. Grapes for the Reserva are 100% estate grown and originate from Finca Flichman’s selected parcels in Barrancas and Tupungato. After both fermentations are completed in stainless steel, the wine macerates for 10 days, no doubt to enhance its grape tannin profile. The Reserva spends six months in barrel (70% French, 30% American) and then three months in bottle. Again, there’s no mention of the age of the barrels but – judging from the tannins – it would seem a fair percentage could be new. Its alcohol is 13.6%.

I tasted the wines with Angela Lloyd on the same day we sampled several Italian wines from Melgab’s stable and, compared to the Old World offerings we enjoyed, we found them sweetish (around 2.5g/l residual sugar), less complex and heady.

Both were deep and dark and had exuberant violet and cherry aromas, and charry-cherry flavours. The oak on the Oak Aged Malbec seemed a little out of kilter, just too grippy but, on the Reserva, it appeared more crafted, better integrated and more complementary to the fruit.