Golden color is quite nice. Great tints—a variety of yellows come through, like the color of mulberries and sunlight.

Great aroma—sweet raisins, mixed with a strong alcohol and spice smell. Very humid and fresh.

Taste is interesting. Very sweet, but with a nice hint of saltiness to it that makes it ideal with cheese. It has a nice bittersweet quality to it, and the saltiness just leaves you thirsting for more. Finishes with just a tad of spice.

Overall Score: 3.6/5.0. If matched with cheese, this wine is more of a 4.0/5.0. The enjoyment of this wine really depends on the food that it’s matched with. Cheese really brings out its potential.

This was part of a restaurant tasting, and I couldn’t check the year on this wine, but I think it’s a very new experiment, so there should be only one year of it made.

Also note that, unlike most dessert wines in Argentina, this wine is fortified (which is definitely a plus).

Color, as expected, is a dark ruby—nice, but nothing special. Sweet, fruity aroma. Not too strong. Has a sweet, bitter taste to it. Flavor is not too sweet or fruity, but it has a refreshing acid spiciness to it. Causes a nice puckering, but has a bit too much bitterness to it. Also lacks complexity.

Overall Score: 2.0/5.0. This is a failed experiment in developing a fortified dessert wine for Argentina. If you want a better sweet wine, turn to the Las Perdices Malbec Ice.

This is a wine that was part of a tasting, and I was unable to check the year, but it’s relatively new (i.e. 2007 or 2008).

Nice, golden, yellow color. Floral, soft aroma. Kind of a burnt smell and taste to it. Like a Riesling spätlese—very nice. A little bitter on way down but great nonetheless. Nice and fruity with a touch of bitterness.

Overall Score: 3.5/5.0

This is a wine that was part of a tasting, and I was unable to check the year.

It has a beautiful, gold (literally) color. Great reflections.

Aroma of sweet fruits—peaches and apples especially. Rather refreshing.

Taste is rather strong for a white wine in Argentina. Somewhat sweet, with a nice burning feeling on the way down. Warms you up. There are tones of coffee and fruit. Feels pretty fresh. A bit on the bitter side though, and it’s honestly a rather boring wine, with few strong flavors. Since it’s just a late harvest wine, it’s sweet just because it’s harvested late, not because it’s been fortified. So for a desert wine, it seems pretty weak. Probably won’t mesh with anything other than fruit.

Overall Score: 3.0-3.2/5.0. Stick to more heavily fortified wines.

Beautiful golden color. Reflects gold all over.

Aroma of fruit, especially peaches and apples. Also, a rather humid smell.

Sweet and fresh taste. Very much like a sweeter Riesling. Goes down very smoothly, with a great feel in the mouth, though not too long. Notes of fruits, like peaches.

Overall Score: 4.0/5.0. One of the few late harvest wines in Argentina that I find not only drinkable, but delicious, especially at this price range.

Keeper—My Favorite Dessert Wine in Argentina

Incredible for a dessert wine by Argentine standard. Unlike most dessert wines in Argentina, it’s actually fortified, too, so it’s quite sweet.

Great, bright ruby color, like the color of strawberries. Has a great fogginess to it with numerous shades.

Not much aroma—somewhat tempered by the refrigeration. Just has a refreshing humidity that pops out.

Tastes very fruity and sweet, but not syrupy for something so fortified. It combines the extreme fruitiness of a Malbec with the sweetness of a highly fortified wine, balancing each with the other. Moreover, it has the lightness of a true ice wine. Strawberries and raspberries are especially prominent. This is an absolute pleasure to drink

Overall Score: 4.3-4.5/5.0. Gets points for being the most interesting and unique dessert wine I’ve ever tried (it’s the only Ice wine style Malbec). It is also one of the only fortified dessert wines in Argentina, and it is perhaps the best example of a good Argentine dessert wine. Highly recommended.

As mentioned before, Achaval Ferrer only produces 5 wines in any sizeable quantity. This is one of the few that he does simply as an experiment or a side project. It is Achaval Ferrer’s take on a desert wine, but it is not a commercialized wine and is not typically sold outside of Argentina.

Color is a deep red. High sugar content makes it a bit more intense.

It has a very strong fruity and floral aroma—just like a Malbec. Somewhat dry in the nose, too. Very nice for a desert wine.

It’s very sweet, but has tons of spice—again, that typical Malbec flavor is emerging. It’s almost like sugar cane. Figs and chocolate are also prominent overtones.  In fact, I love sweet wines, but this is too sweet even for me. It needs a bit more balance. More positively, it is very warming on the way down.

Overall Score: 2.7+/5.0. To be fair, this is one of the better desert wines in Argentina, but it’s just too cloying.

Golden, rich color, with nice greenish tints. Not much in terms of legs—must not have too much sugar (it’s probably not a fortified sweet wine, as in the case of most Argentine desert wines)

Very sweet, fruity aroma, especially of peaches. Some rubber on the nose too.

Taste has a very nice, balanced sweetness to it—strong, but not overpowering. It’s more bittersweet, really. Not cloying at all. Wine is rather soft, light, and smooth. Little length, though. Comparable to a sweet Riesling.

Overall Score: 3.9/5.0. Very good for an Argentine dessert wine—one of the few that I’d actually drink.

Nice color—though a port-style wine, it is still reminiscent of a normal Malbec. Beautiful, dark ruby.

Nice, fruity, dirt smell, but nothing special. Very fresh and very earthy tones are unique for a sweet wine. Like fresh rain. A tad of spice in the nose too. Also a bit of tobacco.

Taste isn’t bad. Very much like a ruby port actually, but with a fantastic spice to it in the finish. Lovely sweetness in the mouth and on the way down. Smooth too. Warms you up nicely.  Also preserves the fruitiness of the Malbec grape. Although syrupy, it is refreshingly light. Still, I would take the Malamado Viognier over this any day.

Overall Score: 3.7/5.0, in consideration of the fact that you’re probably not going to find many better dessert wines in Argentina, and for the value, since Malamados are rather cheap for good dessert liquor. More objectively, probably a 3.4.

This is more of a dessert wine, unlike the Viognier-Torrontes.

It has a beautiful, just gorgeous golden color with yellowish tints. One of the best I’ve seen in Argentina.

The aroma is superb. You can smell figs, plums, sweet fruits and sweet cherries.

The taste is also fantastic. Dried fruits and plums jump out. There is extreme sweetness, but it is controlled, light, and elegant. It is very nice for an after-dinner drink, combining the lightness and fruity-ness of a great white wine, with the heavily fortified sweetness of a port. Tastes even like a light sherry.

Overall Score: 4.2/5.0. For me, and in consideration of the fact that it’s perhaps one of the only good after-dinner drinks in Argentina, it’s more of a 4.5/5.0.