An Homage to Kermit Lynch Or, Brandán Buenosayres Tastes Wine

2003 Malbec. Don David, Bodega El Esteco. Cafayate, Provincia de Salta, República de Argentina. Price: $13 ($4.26 USD)

Color: When held aloft, Don David twinkles like a "hard, gem-like flame," a turbulent ruby at its edges and a lusty, nearly belligerent maroon at the bottom of my stemless glass.

Nose: The aroma is sneaky. At first, nearly imperceptibly, there are hints of green Chartreuse and marigolds, traced by the whisper of sawdust from the floor of a Shaker workshop. Then the coup de grâce: just as your teeth are set to break the taut skin of a plum, its flesh presses against the tip of your nose and intoxicating, sugary ripeness commingles with a huff of dusty, hot air.

Though you may not possess as noble a Gallic snout as Brandán Buenosayres, rest assured that vigorous swirling induces this olfactory paroxysm.

Taste: An initial smoothness, like dunking your head into a gurgling, moss-matted brook, precedes an ecstatic surge of flavor that sends waves of sensation crashing into your hippocampal formation: sour cherries from a roadside stand, cayenne pepper, the dense, mealy bite of a fresh Cantabrian anchovy, and the final taste of a Wild Berry Fruitsicle as your teeth impress a mezza luna on the wooden stick. At last, there is a deviant soupçon of late-season huckleberry preserves. Each flavor individually emerges, recedes, and blends with the other flavors, like the lingering melody of an exquisite fugue. Swann might have his sonata, but I have my Malbec.