Bodega Elena de Mendoza is among the dozens of wine brands under the Gallo umbrella that are produced throughout the world. This particular winery is named after Elena Napoli, who came to South America as part of the 19th century emigration of Italians to Argentina. Monday I listed two wines made by female winemakers, and all three of these were made by Daniela Romero. It's not a deliberate trend this week, but just sort of an interesting coincidence. Priced at $8 each, these are inexpensive table wines for casual consumption. They're enclosed with composite corks, which are made from lots of little pieces of cork glued together. Frankly for this level of wine I really prefer a screwcap, especially when you might be buying full cases for parties.
2009 Boedga Elena de Mendoza Chardonnay$8, 13.8% abv.
Overripe peach aroma, big peach and apricot flavors with a bit of sweetness. It's a full fruit Chardonnay that's going to require some spicy or strongly flavored food to stand up to it. Jerk chicken might be a good match here.
2009 Bodega Elena de Mendoza Red Blend
$8, 13.8% abv
62% Malbec, 21% Syrah, 17% Bonarda
Coffee, leather, blackberry. Big fruit profile with a slightly sweet kick. A good Argentine combination, but I would have preferred it a bit drier and more subtle. Again, big flavors are going to be necessary to avoid being dominated by the wine.
2009 Bodega Elena de Mendoza Malbec
$8, 13.8% abv
Earthy, leather, dark fruit, dry, soft cherry flavors. Definitely my favorite of the three wines, and suitable for all sorts of red meat. This one would still be a good deal at double the price.
Available from Amazon.com:
Note: These wines were received as samples.
8 comments:
Sup Ben,
Been Awhile since I've visited. Crazy that Gallo produces wine in Argentina! Stupid dudes..... They produce more wine then most small countries. Your blog gets better and better mate! Cheers
Thomas,
Great to hear from you! I don't really have a strong position pro or con when it comes to Gallo wines--it's just interesting when you try to look up a random bottle and one of the first results is the Gallo trademark registration. It's like renting some weird car in Brazil and you find out, "This is a Ford?"
I respect that the company name bears some baggage with the likes of Thunderbird, but when all of the decent wines and spirits the company produces are obscured from the general customer, it doesn't help to build the corporate brand.
Cheers,
Benito
Hey, cool post and thanks for linking to my Voice of the Vine article. I hope you'll subscribe; we're on the brink of actually getting a handle on the science underlying all these adjectives used in tasting notes.
I tried the Bodega Elena de Mendoza Malbec on 4/16/11 and enjoyed it with a couple bites of leftover steak. It goes perfectly with steak and the price is right! I had to go out and buy a couple more bottles -really enjoyed this wine. It's much better than a Pinot Noir and not as sweet as a Merlot. Really, a perfect balance. Will have to stock up on this and save a couple for Thanksgiving day! Would you recommend storing this for another year? I think it would be awesome to save til 2012 (I'd have to buy another case to put up cause I'm a big wino - hah!).
Thoroughly enjoyed the red blend while in FL last month. Wish I had tried the Malbec - and even moreso, wish I had brought some home to NC as I'm having trouble finding it here. Can you help? Thanks so much!
Nice roundup, Benito. I picked up the Bodega Elena de Mendoza Malbec 2010 and agree that it's a great value. I wish I had found their red blend, too. I'm not opposed to the occasional fruit-bomb wine, and it sounds like the blend leans that way.
Roger
Just happened onto the Bodega Elena de Mendoza 2010 Red Blend....I like it! I love to pour and not have a puny washed out red color. This one is deep and full bodied. Smells great, tastes great...had it with grilled vegetable prima vera pasta...with a red sauce. I paid $6.99 I am going back to buy out the rest!Great for M-F and for stocking up for party.
Tried the 2010 Bodega Elena de Mendoza Malbec over 4th of July in North Carolina. Delicious and worth 2x the price I paid at Ingles ($8.97)
Just tried the 2010 Bodega Elena de Mendoza in Chicago. Quite a bargain ($6.99) but nothing like the Malbec.
Nice post and blog.
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