You ever pick up a new wine because it’s cheap, and it’s your favorite type of wine, only to be disappointed?
Well, on the same Smiths’ grocery store trip where we picked a bottle of the 2020 Alamos Malbec at 20% off, we also picked up a bottle of 2021 Don Miguel Gascon Malbec.
So, first things first, Malbec is not my favorite type of red wine, but it is one of Riley’s favorites.
And she was really looking forward this one, because let’s be honest, aren’t we all looking for our favorite type of wine at a really low price?
After the 20% discount at Smiths, this bottle of Malbec cost us $10.39 but later we discovered that our local Total Wine & More sells it for $10.79 all the time.
Moral of the story? Like the Alamos Malbec, this wasn’t a great deal in the end and maybe we should not buy wine at Smith’s expecting a deal.
Anyways, on to the disappointment!
My Initial Thoughts
So, we packed this bottle to enjoy on a road trip.
Not in the car, of course, but during our down time in the hotel.
I mean, why spend a bunch of money at the hotel bar if you can bring your own bottle, eh?
Plus, this bottle of 2021 Don Miguel Gascon Malbec has a screw-top lid, making it even easier to travel with than most bottles of wine.
Anyways, so, there were are chilling in the hotel and looking forward to chilling a bit more with some of this Malbec.
The label promises tasting notes of plum and blackberry with a hint of spicy chocolate.
Now, if you’ve read my review of Trader Joe’s Petit Reserva Barossa Shiraz 2020 then you already know that seeing “spice” on a wine label gives me a bit of PTSD.
That PTSD is all thanks to this cursed bottle of wine.
You see, those promises of plum, blackberry, and chocolate never materialized for us.
It was worse. Much, much worse.
How worse, you ask?
Well, have you ever wondered what it would taste like if you drank some red wine out of a dirty ashtray?
If that thought has ever crossed your mind, then a bottle of this 2021 Don Miguel Gascon Malbec will quench that thirsty mind.
And make you regret that you ever thought if it in the first place.
Hands down the worst tasting wine that I can ever recall consuming.
And since we’re idiots, we tried to drink this one again the next night, hoping that time would result in it tasting better.
It did not.
In fact, this is only the second bottle of wine that I can ever recall just dumping out and not finishing.
Over at Vivino, it currently has a rating of 3.7/5 from over 25,000 reviews currently.
Though I did notice that that 2006 vintage rates the highest, with not enough ratings for the 2021 vintage to know what other people think about it.
However, I did note a similar review for the 2020 vintage on Drizly:
Wow this is terrible. I’ve been familiar with this Malbec for about 10 years – and it’s always been a favorite – however it has always needed to breathe and decant before I drank it. Too harsh if you don’t. Also better chilled. But this 2020 vintage? Wow that is sour. Just really hard and bitter to drink. Sorry. Much better Malbec’s at the same price. Avoid this year at least on this wine.
For us though, this wine is a definite ‘no’ and not something that we will never be purchasing again…unless we forget that we’ve already had it!
And if that happens, then it immediately goes in the trash.
Even at $10.39, I don’t think I’d ever buy this one again because I’ve had cheap Malbec wines that taste better.
And I’d really like to be able to enjoy this one since it has a low price and is so easy to find in our local area.
Overall though, I think this is quite bad for a Malbec wine, in fact the worst I’ve ever had.
And that’s a shame since Malbec tends to be Riley’s favorite type of red wine these days.