2006 Luca Laborde Double Select Syrah

This wine is 19$ at Costco. Wasn't sure what to expect from this wine since I haven't had a whole lot of wines from Argentina...but this wine delivers. 13.9% alcohol, which is refreshing. Immediately when you pull the cork, there is an intense gingerbread/spice nose that's quite distinctive. The rest of the nose is made up of blueberries and blackberries. This wine is right down the middle stylistically. It definitely isn't one of those huge, California/Aussie Shiraz wines that is like drinking maple syrup, but it also doesn't have the same nervy acids as the O'Sud that we had earlier tonight. I am not the only person to have this opinion--there is an excellent post from Blind Muscat about this wine. His words and mine are similar. As he notes, he received some tasting notes with a press sample of this wine, and notes that he formed his opinion prior to reading them. I didn't get a press sample, but I formed my own observations prior to Googling. This is an obvious, in your face wine, that is tasty and well made. One of the reasons that it's so obvious is because there aren't a lot of ways to play this wine. It isn't subtle. It is what it is: a modern style wine that is fused with a more old-world balance. A-

We ended up drinking this wine over two nights; the second night, we ate the porcinis below, which are the last fresh ones of the season. Unfortunately, one was overcome with worms and we had to pitch it. We had them three ways: a raw salad dosed with pepper, salt, olive oil, a farmers market lemon, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. There was also a grilled slice in the center of all the raw mushrooms for contrast. The second dish was a spaghetti with cherry tomatoes, sauteed cubes of porcini, and thyme. Too bad that this is the last for the season.