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Malbec has become one of the most reliable purchases on any wine shelf, which is exactly the problem. It is so consistently pleasant that most people stop paying attention and buy whichever bottle has a nice label. That is a shame, because the range within Malbec is enormous. A bottle from a high-altitude vineyard in the Uco Valley and a bottle from Cahors in south west France share a grape variety and almost nothing else.
This Malbec wine guide covers the things that genuinely change what is in the glass, so you can pick deliberately rather than hopefully.
Malbec is French. It was one of the six permitted grapes of Bordeaux and the dominant variety of Cahors, where it made famously inky wine known as the black wine of Cahors. It is also thin-skinned, prone to frost, and susceptible to a fungal disease called coulure that ruins fruit set. The catastrophic frost of 1956 killed off most of what remained in Bordeaux, and growers largely replanted with Merlot instead.
Cuttings had reached Argentina in the mid-nineteenth century, and there the variety found a climate that suited it perfectly: dry, sunny, high, with meltwater irrigation from the Andes and almost no fungal pressure. Argentine Malbec today is not a copy of the French original. It is arguably a different wine made from the same plant.
If you learn one thing about buying Malbec, make it this. Mendoza vineyards range from around 600 metres above sea level up to 1,500 metres and beyond. Every hundred metres of elevation lowers the average temperature, increases the day to night temperature swing, and intensifies ultraviolet exposure.
The result is that lower altitude Malbec, from areas such as the eastern Mendoza plains, tends to be soft, jammy, high in alcohol and quick to drink. Higher altitude Malbec, from the Uco Valley or Gualtallary at 1,200 metres and above, keeps far more acidity, develops thicker skins and therefore more structured tannin, and shows floral violet aromatics, a chalky mineral edge and darker, less sugary fruit.
Many producers now print the altitude on the back label. If it says 1,000 metres or more, you are buying a fresher, more structured wine. If it says nothing, look for the sub-region: Uco Valley, Tupungato, Gualtallary and Altamira all indicate height.
Alcohol is your other quick indicator. A Malbec at 13.5 percent is likely to be fresher and more food-friendly than one at 15 percent, which will be riper, sweeter-seeming and heavier.
Oak matters enormously in this variety. Malbec takes oak readily, which is why so many cheaper examples taste of vanilla, coconut and coffee more than of grape. Terms such as roble or barrica indicate some barrel time. Wines labelled unoaked or made in concrete or amphora are increasingly common and show the fruit far more purely. If you have decided you dislike Malbec, there is a reasonable chance you actually dislike heavily oaked Malbec.
Vintage matters less than for European reds, since Mendoza is a desert with irrigation and enjoys reliable weather, but 2016 was famously wet and difficult, so avoid it unless the producer is very good.
If you find Argentine Malbec too soft or too sweet-tasting, Cahors is the answer, and it is one of the best value red wines in France. Legally at least seventy percent Malbec, usually blended with a little Merlot or Tannat, Cahors is grown on limestone plateaus and river terraces in a cooler, wetter climate.
The wines are dark, dense and distinctly savoury, with black plum, iron, graphite, dried herbs and firm tannin. They need food and they reward five to ten years of ageing, which very few Argentine Malbecs do. A good Cahors alongside a slow-cooked casserole is one of the more satisfying pairings in wine.
Serve Malbec at 16 to 18 degrees. Served too warm, and most British homes do serve red too warm, the alcohol becomes prominent and the fruit turns stewed. Twenty minutes in the fridge before opening fixes it.
Decant young Malbec for thirty to forty five minutes. It genuinely opens up, and the violet and floral notes that distinguish good examples only really appear after air. Use a glass with a decent bowl rather than a small tumbler.
Most Malbec is made to drink within three to five years of the vintage. A small number of top single-vineyard wines from Uco will improve for a decade or more, but there is no need to lay down a mid-priced bottle.
Steak, obviously, and specifically something with fat and char. Ribeye over sirloin. Beyond that, lamb chops with rosemary, slow-cooked beef short rib, chorizo, empanadas, aubergine cooked over charcoal, mushroom risotto and hard sheep cheeses all work. Chimichurri, with its parsley, garlic, oregano and vinegar, is close to a perfect partner for the herbal edge in a high-altitude Malbec.
What does not work is delicate white fish, subtle chicken dishes and hot chilli. Alcohol amplifies capsaicin heat, so a 14.5 percent Malbec with a fiery curry makes both worse.
For a weeknight, take a mid-priced Uco Valley Malbec with modest oak. For a barbecue or a steak night, something riper and richer from classic Mendoza. For a proper dinner where you want the wine to be interesting, a Cahors or a single-vineyard Argentine bottle at 1,200 metres. Look through the red wine collection or the wider wine range, and if you are hosting, a couple of bottles alongside something from the beer selection covers most guests comfortably.
If the steaks are already out and there is nothing red in the house, we deliver across London inside the M25 in 30 to 45 minutes, 24 hours a day. Check the areas we cover and have a bottle open before the pan is hot.
Please drink responsibly. Drinks House 247 operates a Challenge 21 policy - you must be 18 or over to order, and our drivers will ask for photo ID if you look under 21.
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