Argentine Malbec popularity continues to grow

The wine is proving to be resilient.

For a couple of years now, I’ve been asking local wine-biz folks, “What’s going to be the next malbec?” I got various answers, but never the correct one:

Malbec.

The next big thing is the last big thing, a supple but hearty red that evolved from a blending grape in Bordeaux, to a mainstay in France’s Cahors region, to a continuously rising star out of Argentina. Thanks almost entirely to malbec, U.S. imports of Argentine wines are up 40 percent from a year ago, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co.

“If anything, malbec has picked back up,” said Bill Belkin, who oversees the wine program at Byerly’s and Lunds. “It’s kind of picked up where merlot seemed to be going.”

And unlike California merlots and Australian shirazes, which have tanked in recent years due largely to a plethora of flabby, insipid offerings at lower price points, malbec is proving quite resilient. As its popularity has mushroomed, some overly oaky and/or jammy wines have come along. But no gargantuan brand has emerged to torpedo the rest of the field.

“When the Argentines saw what Yellow Tail did to Australia, they didn’t want to make that mistake,” Belkin said. “When I cautiously asked Argentine winemakers about this, they said, ‘That’s not what Argentina is all about.’ They are determined not to muck it up.”

It took awhile, though. Malbec was brought to Argentina in the late 19th century. “Some French guy, probably a railroad engineer, brought cuttings over,” said winemaker Patrick Campbell, whose Terra Rosa malbec is a signature rendition. “The sandy, rocky soils, the warm days and cool nights in the foothills of the Andes, it just worked there.”

Campbell, of Laurel Glen fame on these shores, was the first U.S. winemaker to set up shop in Mendoza, back in 1998. At that time, Trapiche was the only Argentine malbec readily available in Minnesota. Now retailers and restaurateurs can hardly keep up with the demand.

“We sell so much malbec, it’s insane,” said Erin Ungerman, manager of Cafe Ena and El Meson restaurants in Minneapolis. “It’s really geared toward that newer palate, the soft fruit, the oak. It’s such an easy-drinking wine. It’s food-friendly. And the price points are very appealing to people, particularly in this economy.”

Indeed, there are a quite a few tasty malbecs available for $10 and under, including Finca Finchman and Finca La Linda. Great values in the $10 to $15 range include Famiglia Meschini, Diseno and Dona Paula, and a few more bucks will get you the Trapiche Broquel and the fabulous Piattelli Grand Reserve.

But these days in these parts, the brands seem hardly to matter. As Belkin says, malbec is proving to be “a universally lovable grape.”

WINE OF THE WEEK: JUAN BENEGAS MENDOZA MALBEC 2007

The experience: There are some serious blackberry notes on this hearty, rustic red, which finds a nice balance between Old World earthiness and New World oak. It’s a smoky, rustic wine that softens a bit in the glass and as the night goes along.

The setting: Few wines are more versatile with casual spicy food — pizza, chili, burgers, barbecue — than this one. Grilled slabs of just about anything, from beef to portobello mushrooms, work well with it, too.

The back story: The grape’s name purportedly came from a Hungarian peasant who spread cuttings throughout Europe.

The tab: $12 (often less), available at Sorella, Zipp’s, MGM Calhoun, Thomas, Kowalski’s and Butcher Block restaurant.
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SOURCE:
“Malbec’s popularity keeps on keeping on”
By BILL WARD
Star Tribune
April 21, 2010
http://www.startribune.com
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/91717054.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUHPYDiaK7DUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUr