Perez Cruz Limited Edition Cot – Malbec, It’s Not Just From Argentina (And France) Anymore

93% Cot (Malbec), 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Carménère from Maipo Andes Valley, Chile.

SRP of $22 and available at that price. Sample received courtesy Wines of Chile for review purposes.

From the winemaker:

“Our Cot Limited Edition shows, in addition to the specific notes of the variety, the unmistakable character typical of Maipo Alto wines. It is a potent wine, well structured and creamy, which at the same time offers a delicate freshness that makes it very attractive. Aromatically, there are notes of fresh red fruits and blackpepper, with a special hint of flowers.

14.0% Alcohol”

Everybody knows that the best Malbec comes from Argentina, right? Not so! In addition to France, where it originated, and California, where some good things are being done with this variety, you can add Chile to the list as well.

While you may not think of Chile as a hot spot for Malbec, just take a look a map and you’ll see that Chile is just on the other side of the Andes Mountains from Argentina, and in fact, today’s wine comes from an area roughly on the other side of the Andes from Mendoza. This is not to say that Malbec from Chile is a carbon copy of what you find in Argentina…it has its own unique characteristics as well.

One note on the price — this wine is just gaining distribution in the U.S., and as an emerging varietal for the region you may pay a bit of a premium for the higher end wines, thus the SRP of $22 and the Saturday Splurge designation. My guess is that the price will fall as it becomes more widely distributed, and the price of Chilean Malbec in general should also fall quickly as producers ramp up the supply.

The 2010 Perez Cruz Limited Edition Cot begins with a very nice aroma of plum, strawberry, raspberry, black pepper and some floral notes. Tasting the wine shows rich fruit and nicely integrated spice along with a great mouthfeel. This is a very smooth and tasty wine. It ends with lots of spice and black pepper on the finish plus some long lasting fruit notes. The wine was just as good or maybe even a little better on day 2. Quite a delicious wine for a Saturday Splurge!

And if you’re wondering about the name “Cot”, it comes from the original name for Malbec in the Cahors area of France, “Cot Noir”. Cheers!

See a listing of local retailers selling this wine here.