I got a great Twitter question that I wanted to share.
@ajbsales Tracy, I’m becoming more of a Malbec fan as of late…any suggestions on a moderately priced Malbec??
And I asked him his price range and he followed up with:
@ajbsales Let’s say $50.00 for 750 ml as the top end, any suggestions? One region better than another? Thanks!
Fantastic question and we should explore Malbec more here at Wine on the Street. It’s a great value and you can eat almost anything with it.
But for now…I’ll just throw out some quick facts. And I went to my friends at Gary’s Wine & Marketplace for some awesome suggestions.
So Malbec is a thick-skinned grape that originated in France and is often used in Bordeaux blends. The problem is it wasn’t happy in France. It kept getting disease and rot. Thankfully, some Argentine winemakers took a few vines to Argentina to give it a shot there. And Malbec found its Home Sweet Home. It grows beautifully and now Argentina has about 75% of all the Malbec acres in the world.
But there are still two main main regions to consider when picking a Malbec: Mendoza in Argentina and Cahors in France, says Scott Sullivan, wine marketing expert at Gary’s. Mendoza’s Malbecs are more fruit forward. Cahors’ have more pepper and spice.
Either way, Malbec goes great with food because it its not overpowering like a cabernet and doesn’t have a super long finish.
But you get tons of black cherry, plum, maybe even chocolate. Yum.
Here are three recommendations under $50:
- 2013 Altos las Hormigas Malbec Altamira $35.99
- 2013 Luca Malbec $27.99
- 2012 Chateau du Cedre Cahors Heritage $13.98
World Malbec Day is in April so mark your calendars!
Cent’ Anni.
