This past week I had the opportunity to go out for a real Girl’s Night Out (GNO), one that offers 10% off to the willing ladies, and, of course, was paired with wine.
I hate that some of our local wine bars are closed on Mondays. So to find one open, and having it be their designated GNO, made my little wine heart jump…a lot.
So, if you haven’t guessed it yet, it was Wine 661. Tanya Green, the owner, was on hand. And when I headed over to her section of Malbecs, she was pleased with my choice.
2007 Amancaya is a Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Mendoza, Chile. At first, it was pretty darn good, but 5 minutes later in my glass it blossomed like any well made blend. (Blends have the distinct benefit of any winemaker’s given imagination, as opposed to being forced to have a specific percentage of one grape in a single varietal to be able to call it, say, a Napa Cabernet.)
We paired it with Kobe Beef Sliders that had their own Brie and Balsamic vinegar sliding onto crisp French Bread. The peppery chips on the side almost overwhelmed our palates but we paired those later with Tanya’s signature cucumber water. Always the perfect end to a GNO.
This is what Tanya had to say about it when I e-mailed her the next day to see how many more Malbec treasures she had, “Glad you enjoyed yourselves. It was great to see you in the flesh! List of Malbecs, yes! Amancaya was the one you had. It’s by Rothchild (very shee shee). I get more this afternoon! I also have El Ganador, Uno, La Posta, Catena, and Astica. They’re all a little bit different. Some fruity, some rustic, some cab-like. And they range in price from $19.99 p/bottle to $120.00 p/bottle. I LOVE Malbecs! Yummy!”
One more thing, when you visit Tanya, and Wine 661, look for her cohort, Tony Wire. The man is a whiz with websites and, when I can make the time, I’m going to ask Tony to use his magic to turn this blog into a killer website! His company website is called Pixel Perfect Inc.
