Color is verging on black. Rather dark, with some purple and dark red in there.

Fresh, fruity aroma, but rather weak and subtle. Leather, oak, and vanilla are also present, but they can barely be distinguished.

The wine is smooth, acidic, and spicy, but with lots of nuance, giving it some good complexity. It is rather strong and intense, with a full body. Still, the taste is nothing special—no flavor really stands out as exceptional. Notes of coffee, toast, and some fruit come through on the palate.

Overall Score: 3.8/5.0.

Although this wine lacks different hues, it has a very nice, intense ruby and garnet color.

Great aroma—Chocolate and nuts just burst out. A tad of spice too. Earthy but rather nice.

The taste is pretty good, too, especially considering the price. It has a soft start, with some subtle fruitiness. The fruitiness is nicely balanced by a nice nuttiness and a stronger tannin taste. Very smooth, especially on the finish, which is oaky and tangy, but which is a little lacking in acidity for my taste and a tad too strong on the tannins. Refreshing and round, though it’s not extremely structured or developed.

Overall Score: 3.5+. For value, more of an 3.8.

Viña Cobos is the brainchild of California wine magnate, Paul Hobbs, the man praised for an endless range of phenomenal wines, including numerous 100-rated wines. So, in terms of Argentine winemaking, Cobos is somewhat akin to the foreign rock star. It is known for consistent excellence, but with that excellence also come outrageous prices, especially for a value market like Argentina. In fact, it produces the only wines that I have seen retailing for $200 or more the first year of their release. However, to be fair, Cobos  is the winery with the highest rated Argentine wine of all time, the Cobos Marchiori Vineyard Malbec 2006, which has received a 99 from Robert Parker. In a sense, Cobos is the highest-rated of all Argentine wineries.

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Bramare Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Price: $33-$52 on Wine-searcher, but most vendors are under $43.
Producer: Viña Cobos
Keeper

This is just about the cheapest a Cobos wine can get, but it doesn’t sacrifice quality at all.

Great color—dark with tons of purple and orange tints.

Sweet aroma—dried fruits and plums are especially prominent. It’s also a bit herbal or floral.

The taste of the wine is rather complex. It blends strong tannins with a nice fruitiness, especially of plums. It is very strong and somewhat acidic as well, giving it a bit of freshness or kick. The flavor, moreover, develops in the mouth, with a lot of the acidity and the taste of plums coming in a bit later. There are finally some overtones of coffee and nuts. It’s a very drinkable, smooth, and refreshing wine.

Overall Score: 4.3/5.0. It can easily hold its own against much pricier Cabernet Sauvignons from Argentina.

Nice ruby color, with strong and intense reflections, especially for something so young (this wine is from Pulenta Estate’s young line).

Leather, toast, smoke, pepper and oak are all mixed in the aroma. Quite nice.

The wine has a decent body, with some good tannins. It is bitter and oaky, but with overtones of some spice and toast, especially in the finish. The acidity is controlled, and it is rather smooth. For its youth, its flavor and body stand out. Still, it is a bit light, and its finish is rather short.

Overall Score: 3.7/5.0. For Value, 4.0/5.0. For just a very cheap, low-level Cabernet Sauvignon, this is very good.

Lovely jet black color.

Very fruity, peachy, black fruit aroma. Quite strong too.

Wine is pretty complex. It has great body, with a nice spice to it. It also has some nuttiness. But it doesn’t have much length (as should be expected for a young wine). It’s nice but has a weak finish.

Overall Score: 3.7/5.0

Beautiful tints of ruby and violet. Intense, and purpling, but with a bit of lightness to the color.

Aroma is muddy, earthy, and woody. There is the smell of a forest, of rocks, and of fresh fruit.

Good  body and structure to the wine. Smooth, as expected of a good Cab, but with a bit more punch to it. Simple, but it does have some overtones of flavor—coffee and chocolate. Very nice finish of spice and coffee. Strong tannins too, blending well with other flavors. Still, it’s a bit weak at first and only picks up strength by the end.

Overall Score: 4.1/5.0. The 2^nd best of the Rutini wines and a very solid wine overall, though it’s still not something I’d consider amazing.

The color is rather soft for a reserve—nothing too intense.

Nice aroma—spicy, herbal, floral. Still, nothing that pops out.

The wine has a lot of body, especially in comparison to the other Carinae wines. It is also much spicier. The spice adds a lot of extra complexity. It has somewhat of a bold character too, with lots of tannins. As a result, there’s an oaky bitterness that is a bit much.

Overall Score: 3.0/5.0

Okay color—dark, with a nice ruby shade, but it lacks other hues. Very monochromatic.

Best aroma of the 3 magna wines I’ve tried (Malbec, Corte, and this). Earthy, but very fresh, with a slight tarry accent. Dried plums are also in there. Not bad.

Very smooth, with lots of tannins and a spicy, long finish, for its youth. Doesn’t wow, but it’s solid. Still, it’s extremely boring. Lacks complexity. In the mouth, it takes on the taste of dried raisins and nuts, but the taste is rather weak and one-dimensional. Doesn’t do anything for me, and I wouldn’t even recommend it for a daily drink.

Overall Score: 2.8/5.0. More like a 2.0 if it weren’t so cheap.

Beautiful color, with reddish orange tints, though nothing special. Muddy, earthy aroma, but in a good way. Also has the smell of fresh rain.

Beautiful taste, especially considering I’m not a fan of Cabs. Very fruity, smooth, and soft. Good. Lots of body, with great complexity—coffee, chocolate, and toffee notes all throughout that only gain in intensity with time. Very round. Subtle spicyness at the end.

Overall Score: 4.2+/5.0 (w/ value factored in).

The aroma is floral and fruity. A little burnt and smoky, with a light smell of flowers and herbs infused.

Taste: Very complex and very structured. But also very bitter, a bit strong, and one-dimensional.  It is soft, floral, velvet, and has the taste of black fruits or berries, esp. blackberries. It’s still very one-dimensional, though, and it’s a rather boring wine. Spice and coffee overtones add some nice flavor.

Overall Score: 3.5/5.0