Moss Lake & Malbecs

Wine tasting in progress!

The wines

Moss Lake at sunset

Every couple of years a group of us get together for a weekend of fun and relaxation, something along the lines of no bras, no makeup, no men.  All of us are old enough to be comfortable with ourselves and with each other, and we celebrate our lives with good food, good liquor, sleep, art, and an appreciation of every minute of every day.  It's rejuvenating.

This year nine of us rented a house on the banks of Hubert M. Moss Lake, near Gainesville, Texas, and spent an idyllic long weekend pursuing the aforementioned activities.  My contribution was the wine tasting:  I'd read an interesting article by Dave McIntyre (dmwineline.com and @dmwine) for the Washington Post, "Old World wines taste of earth; New World wines taste of the sun" and "Wine in Argentina: Argentine Malbec Styles by Region" on The Anuva Wine Tasting Blog (anuvawines.com), and I was intrigued that the same grape grown in different areas would produce drastically different wines, so I purchased six bottles of Malbec: Cahors, France (where it all started); Washington state; California; Mendoza, Argentina; Rio Negro, Argentina (a region south of Mendoza); and Chile (from a region directly opposite Mendoza).  We tasted each wine and compared the flavors.  None of us have expert palates, but we all could taste the difference in terroir with each wine.  As a group, Mendoza won (bottle got emptied first), followed by Chile (same latitude, so kind of the same flavor).  I loved the fresh flavor of the Washington Malbec and a slight hint of licorice or fennel, but I was in the minority (more for me!), and everyone loved the French wine but finished Mendoza.  It was a lovely evening!  We invited our next door neighbors to the tasting, and another neighbor pulled up on his jet ski, so he joined in, and then the neighbors piled everyone on their pontoon boat for a sunset cruise around the lake.  Definitely an evening to remember!