96 Points - James Halliday
Bleasdale is one of Australia's leading makers and advocates of Malbec having grown the variety since the late 1880's. While Malbec is rarely seen as a standalone wine in Australia, Bleasdale have been championing the varietal for many years, consistently delivering impressive results.
This 2022 Bleasdale Generations Malbec will only strengthen this wine's reputation as a benchmark example of this variety in Australia. Beautifully lifted aromatics of violets, black fruits and violets leap out of the glass, leading to an intensely flavoured palate with layers of blackberries, plum and olive that are supported by well measured oak and tannin. Another sublime Bleasdale Malbec that has the structure to enjoy over the next decade.
"96 Points. The fruit comes from three estate blocks and two specialist growers; open fermented with 20% whole berries; on skins eight to 12 days; matured for 12 months in French puncheons (10% new). Deeply coloured, the bouquet and palate hunt as one, with intense aromas of black fruits and clove spice joined by plums on the unexpectedly elegant palate. Bleasdale is the king of Malbec. $39. Drink: 2024 - 2040. 13.5% alc. Screwcap"- James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion 2025.
"94 Points. What Bleasdale is doing with malbec is pretty remarkable. These are genuinely good wines, as neat as they are characterful. They are not, it’s probably worth saying, either overblown or underdone; they taste as though they’ve been picked optimally. Indeed the most generous thing about this wine is the asking price. It tastes of fragrant berries, red and black, rust, violets, peppercorn and cedar. It boasts firm, integrated tannin, infused here with licorice. It’s excellent, and it will mature over a long period. Tasted: Feb24 13.5% alc. $39 Screwcap Drink: 2025 - 2035+"- Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.
