Trivento Malbec A Versatile Choice For Holiday Meals

Trivento Golden Reserve Malbec 2016, Argentina
Cost: $21-23
N ow is the time we start seriously thinking about what wine to serve at holiday meals. There are many good choices, but the key thing is to get a wine that goes with a variety of dishes.
Holiday meals usually offer at least one meat and many side dishes. Sometimes we even have two or three main courses, so it is good to find wines that can shine with varying flavors.
Trivento Golden Reserve Malbec 2016 ($21-23) is one of those versatile wines. Argentine malbec is great at holidays because it is highly drinkable. I have had it with many different kinds of meals, from fish to chicken to turkey to ham to beef, and the pairings always worked.
Malbec seems to work with just about anything because it usually doesn’t have that long, lingering finish you find in cabernet sauvignon. Argentine malbecs tend to be smoother and lusher with more rounded tanins than French malbec.

Trivento is like many wine companies that put reserve on the label of a wine, even though there is no special distinction. At least this golden reserve differentiates the wine from Trivento reserve malbec, which you can find for half the price.
The Malbec reserve is a good wine, and a nice buy at $10, but the golden reserve is worth the extra money. It is a rich, balanced and elegant wine.
In the glass it is a beautiful red with violet tints. Lively aromas of raspberries and blackberries lead to a rich mouthfeel. The wine floods your mouth with flavor and silky tanins. And even though the finish isn’t long, it is extremely pleasant.
The grapes are grown in the Mendoza region of Argentina, picked by hand and then destemmed. After crushing, the grapes spend 48 hours in maceration and 25 days fermenting in stainless steel tanks. Natural malolactic fermentation gives the wine an extra smoothness.
I would serve this wine at under 60 degrees. It will warm up in the glass and offer mouth-watering flavors.
The 2017 vintage should be released soon and will have a similar taste profile to this vintage. You could cellar this wine for about five years or so.
Malbec was brought to Argentina in 1868 from France where it is one of the blending grapes for Bordeaux. Argentina now has more acres of malbec vineyards than anywhere else in the world and has become a sort of national grape of Argentina
Winery: The name Trivento comes from the three winds that blow across the vineyards at the foot of the Andes.
Polar winds blow in from the south, cold and icy, bringing on the winter stages of the vineyards. This is when pruning begins. The Sudestada wind is the fresh breeze of summer. Cloudiness and the breeze keep the grapes from baking in the hot, dry summer, and help in uniform ripening. Zonda winds descend from the Andes all year long, but hot and dry gusts in spring promote budding of the vines.
Trivento Bodegas y Viñedos began in 1996, owned by famed Vina Concha y Toro. The Chilean wine company wanted to gain a foothold in Argentina and wanted to produce wines that preserve the character of the grapes created by the winds that sweep Argentina.
Trivento owns 3,185 acres in eight vineyards, one of the largest estates in Mendoza, Argentina’s premier wine region. Rainfall averages only eight inches a year, but spring snowmelt is channeled from the nearby Andes Mountains and brought to the vines via drip irrigation that allows grapes to grow in the arid region.
Argentina’s top malbecs come from the high-altitude Mendoza region where the cool nights and longs days of sunshine allow the grapes to ripen slowly and fully.
The vineyards for this wine are in the Agrelo and Vistalba wine regions in the Lujan de Cuyo district. Trivento also has vineyards in the Maipu, Tupungato and Rivadavia districts. The company also buys small amounts of fruit from growers under long-term contracts.
The vineyards display a wide variety of soil, topography and microclimates.
Trivento produces a large number of wines under the Eolo, Golden Reserve, Amado Sur, Reserve and Brisa de Abril labels.
The Reserve line includes malbec, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, torrontes, chardonnay and cabernet/malbec. The golden reserve line includes a chardonnay.

Goes with: My wife Teri and I had this with homemade tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches and tossed salads. I thought this was the perfect light fall dinner that we put together with a minimum of fuss.
I had made the tomato soup earlier, so we just heated that up. While I made the grilled cheese sandwiches Teri made the salads and we had a great meal in 15 minutes.
The rich, fruity taste of the malbec was great with the tangy soup and creamy cheese sandwiches. While this malbec has plenty of fruit, it has enough acidity to stand up to the acid in the tomato soup.
This is such a versatile wine you can have it with light meals, including salads, soups, stews, or more substantial meals with grilled chicken, lamb and even a thick, juicy steak. This also is one of those wines that will elevate a simple pizza meal.
If you have questions about wine you can email Dennis Sodomka at dennis@bottlereport.com