Viña Tarapacá Malbec Shiraz

A chewy Chilean Big Red from Laithwaites

To be fair, this wine has warning signs written all over it - Laithwaites, Chile, Malbec and Shiraz all tell you this is going to be a Big Wine, probably with a chewy, over-extracted style to it.

Why so?

Firstly, that's pretty much Laithwaites' house style; secondly, it has become Chile's house style (albeit not universally and some more interesting producers are doing the elegance thing rather well these days). Finally, Malbec and Shiraz are unlikely ever to give you a delicate wine, albeit elegance is eminently achievable.

It need not be this way; I've had good wines from Chile and I've had excellent Malbecs and Shirazes - just not from Laithwaites.

It only gets 3.1 / 5 on Laithwaites own website, so even their own customers seem rather underwhelmed.

Viña Tarapacá Malbec Shiraz 2018 (£10.49, Laithwaites) sweet, ripe dark fruits with herbs and spice, rather jammy and overcooked; heavily-stewed, over-extracted texture. Not pleasant.

One to avoid.