Tomas Clancy reviews two very stylish wines... 

Today we are looking at two very fashionable wines. We will be sampling a rich Malbec wine and a sparking Rosé wine from Bordeaux. 

Chakana, Estate Selection Malbec, Valle de Uco, Argentina 2015

Pricing : around €19.99
Available : Corkscrew, Chatham Street, D2 and thecorckscrew.ie; Donnybrook Fair outlets; Woodberrys, Galway; and in selected Next Door and independent Off Licences, Supermarkets and wines shops nationwide
To say some wines and wine regions pass through periods of intense fashionability, followed by an almost collective amnesia is an understatement. The reasons are manifold, sometimes an area becomes hugely fashionable and very market in the world wants their wines, but as a farming activity unlike say brewing, they cannot do a high five and buy three more fermentation tanks and order up more grain. Wineries get one harvest a year, and then that’s it. So they elevate the price or spread a very thin layer of wines across the entire globe. So unable to get the wine regularly or it becoming too dear, we wine lovers move on.
Or it might be that there is a series of bad weather events, a few poor vintages and that too will knock out their presence. Lastly you could add in, wars, earthquakes, military juntas, economic collapse and hyper inflation all interfering with flow of goods. Put all of those matters together and you get the history of Argentina and of course of its wines.
For the last decade however only economics and occasional climate issue now concern us thankfully, Malbec did however become much dearer for the very best examples and it is taking some hard work by a few key players to bring high quality Malbec back to Irish wine lovers at reasonable if no longer rock bottom pricing. This wine is a glorious rich, intense example, all spice and chocolate, with a really attractive weight of dark savory fruit mi-palate and a robust, fuller bodied finish. This is Malbec that France can only dream of and even Australian Shiraz needs to be wary of at this price. Delicious Sunday lunch treat.

BX, Sparkling Rosé Cremant de Bordeaux, Bordeaux NV

Pricing : €14.99

Available : Aldi Stores Nationwide, While Stocks Last
The fashion for Rose wines is something which is not quite gripping Irish shelves, nor on my visit across the water to our near Brexiting neighbor overwhelming them either. Everywhere else in the world there is apparently Rose fever. We do like pink wines however, in Champagne wine lovers will pay a very considerable premium for the pink blush of a Rosé Champagne, sometimes between 50% and double more than the white Champagne version. There is extra work in creating a rose wine, both methods : blending a dab of red wine with the already fermented white wine as is done in Chamoagne or sangee or the bleeding method are time consuming extra steps to take. In Champagne the added extra wine is super rare and pricy Champenoise Rouge and so the price goes up. In other regions in France it is done by making a red wine, then bleeding off the top of the fermenting tank, like taking the top of a cup of teabag made tea where the darkest tea is at the bottom of the cup until you take out the teabag and stir the cup. In wine the teabag is the big weight of grapes and grape skin often called the cap.
This then is a rose wine from Bordeaux, not a noted sparkling wine area and hence able or perhaps of necessity has to offer its wares at a much greater pricing discount. This is a lovely, lip-smackingly crisp version, rather gorgeous and so well priced. It begs for lamb, spicy noodle driven dishes or sushi.