2006 Norton Reserve Malbec

Since I was serving up a delicious NY strip steak with a cognac and port-mustard sauce, I immediately thought to serve it with a Malbec. It is well known that malbec and steak mesh (as do cabernet and steak); kinda like champagne and caviar or blue cheese and port. The rule held to form and the meal was a success. The wine's plum, stern flavors held their own against both the steak and the sauce.
Why do I continue to talk about the meals I make when I review wines? Wine and food go together and not because one is a food and one a beverage. The two undoubtedly CAN add to each other and make each other better. I like wine and I like steak but a chardonnay would not go well with a steak because the steak would over-power it. It takes a particular varietal to work with a particular food cooked a particular way (let us not forget that a type of food; ie chicken can work well with almost any type of wine, depending on how the dish is prepared!) In this case, the malbec was able to cut through the steak and added to the flavor profiles of both.
Now, here comes the interesting thing. My second glass of this wine was after I finished the steak and I found the wine, frankly, bordering on the undrinkable. The plum flavor was over the top and the wine was neither complex nor balanced.
Beyond that point, it brings me to another question- when reviewers rate wines, they do so without food. Should there be a review for wines alongside food as well? I would argue, emphatically, yes. YES. Beyond the fact that certain wines taste better with food and others on their own (think overpowering New World wines that tend to overpower any food put in front of them), I would argue that certain varietals are more food friendly than others. If a wine is meant to be drunk with a certain type of food, shouldn't the wine be rated while that scenario is put forth?!!! Don't people want to know whether a wine is being reviewed as a stand-alone cocktail or a dinner accompaniment? While there are definitely cases where a wine tastes beautifully or awfull in both instances, many wines only taste well under one of these instances. Hence, there is also the strong possibility/probability that the reviewers are misguiding the very people that they seek to inform?
I say let us open our hearts to the grapes and see the positives! Don't give up on a wine just because it doesn't make for a good cocktail! More on this to come...