I had a few colleagues in town for a meeting and took them to a local restaurant for dinner.  This was the only Malbec available so we took a punt and tried it.  A nose of cherry, oak and black berries.  The initial tastes of dark fruits get melded into a silky vanilla blueberry compote.  The mid palate passes rather quickly with a hint of black berries and licorice.  The finish is nice with an easy going tannin profile and very faint hints of acidity.  This is a basic wine that will suffice in a pinch but I was astounded to read later on that it is only a $9 bottle that we got hosed on ($50+), but more importantly- it only got an 80 point rating from WE.  That’s rather harsh, but shouldn’t a restaurant look for any ratings before buying blindly?  I am not that down on it and will go with 86 points making it a 2 star wine.  Salut….