Zolo Bonarda – Move Over Malbec

100% Bonarda from Ugarteche, Mendoza, Argentina.

SRP of $12 and available for as low as $8 and widely for $10. Sample submitted for review.

From the bottle:

“Mendoza’s second most planted varietal and a fun grape to discover. This wine has a very deep purple color with typical Bonarda aromas of raspberries and fruit jam. In the mouth it has sweet tannins with toasty barrel notes. Aged 8 months in oak.

13.8% Alcohol”

Bonarda is the second most planted red grape in Argentina yet it is rarely seen here in the U.S. where the Argentina section of most wine stores is dominated by Malbec (with perhaps a little Torrontés thrown in for good measure). Don’t get me wrong, I love Malbec as much as anyone, but I would gladly give up a little of that shelf space to Bonarda. Why? Because it tastes good!

Today’s wine is the second we’ve sampled from Zolo, the other being a seriously good Malbec (of course). Let’s see how this Bonarda measures up…

The 2011 Zolo Bonarda needs a little air to really open up. When it does it presents a really excellent aroma of bright red berries plus a little sweet spice and vanilla. Tasting the wine reveals nice jammy fruit, a bit on the smoky side, with some mildly oaky spice and vanilla notes. Soft tannins help to make this wine easy to drink. The oaky spice notes continue into the medium-long finish. Tasty.

See a listing of local retailers selling this wine here.

Find out more about my rating system and check out the Wine Ranking to find all my reviews! You can sort by type of wine, cost, rating, etc. in the interactive database.

Like The Reverse Wine Snob on Facebook and add our page to your circles on Google+!