Winery	Trapiche
Region	Mendoza, Argentina
Vintage	2007
Type	Red
Grape Varietals	Merlot, Malbec
Retail Price	$18.50
Rating	4/10

This weekend, I was trying my luck to see how worthy my $20 can stretch by going for wine below that amount. As I walked past the Argentina wine section, it reminds me of some of the good Argentinan Malbec which I've had some years back. It was the memory of Trivento Malbec reserva that lingers in my mind. Well, not that I could get a Trivento Reserva for $20, but that prompted me to pick up Astica after scouring the racks for 2 rounds and finally found one that is below 20 bucks.

Astica is a Merlot-Malbec blend that hails from the South American continent. Malbec is a grape varietal that is typically tannic and used as blending wine in France to bring about some amount of complexity. The Argentinan has on the other hand brought acclaim to the Malbec by making it into a single varietial wine. At this moment, I was hopeless curious how a Merlot and Malbec combination would turn out.  

As I just found out, Astica is a native American Indian word to that 'flower'. Under the light, Astica displays clean inky purple with a light hue around the rim. But whether the name was unintentional or otherwise purposely meant to describe the nose and flavour of the wine, a wiff off the glass does pick up some generous scent of jasmine flower, longan fruits and some hints of toast on the nose.

When it comes to taste, Astica was however pretty disappointing. The wine was edgy and tannic, while all I could gather was very singular notes of jasmine and longan fruit yet again, although there were some subtle chocolate flavours developed. The finishing was nothing short of dismal so much so that the sensation lasted nothing more than about 20 seconds.

On the whole, this wine does not appeal to me. Maybe the sort of heavily scented floral flavour does not go well with my preferences. I would definitely be hesistant to introduce first time wine drinker to try this wine as not  everyone can accept such exotic blends. For $18.50, I am sure there is a better wine out there waiting.

Tasting Notes:

• Generous scent of jasmine flower, longan fruits and some hints of toast on the nose. The wine was edgy and tannic, while very singular notes of jasmine and longan fruit yet again was detected,lthough there were some subtle chocolate flavours developed. The finishing was nothing short of dismal so much so that the sensation lasted nothing more than about 20 seconds.

Food Pairings:

• Hearty or chessy dishes like pasta and pizza. Thick beef stew will go well.

Drinkability:

• Ready to drink.

Available At:

• NTUC Fairprice