Malbec is a grape that originated in France but has found a new and better home in Argentina.
This grape was a minor player in European vineyards, being used mainly as a blender. Its only real claim to fame was that it was used to color and “beef up” some of the less expensive Bordeaux wines. Cahors, a district just below Bordeaux, makes a wine from the same malbec grape that is almost inky black and so tannic (astringent) that it can take up to 25 years to become drinkable.
The same grape, when grown in Argentina, produces outstanding wines that are soft, fruity and flavorful. Whether it is the water, the soil, the climate or the mineral-laced irrigating water that runs from the Andes mountains, the grape variety does exceptionally well there, and its wines can, and do, stand up to any red wine in the world.
Malbec, which is a member of the same family as the merlot and cabernet sauvignon, is capable of producing wines of great depth and character, which can easily compete with the other, better-known red wines. It's a wine that can pleasantly replace your current red wine standard and, we believe, make you smile.
The vineyards were established by Don Miguel Gascon more than 125 years ago in 1884, a time when Argentina was the destination for a mass of Italian immigrants. Where there are Italians, there will be red wine, and Don Miguel’s wine proved a favorite of those immigrants.
It was the 1960s when wine importers began to scourer the world for good wines that they could import due to the dramatic increase in wine consumption. Some way or somehow they found the wines of Argentina, which was then known as a simple, backward banana republic - which it definitely was not.
By the turn of the last century, the American public discovered these Argentinean wines, probably because of the lower cost for a high quality wine.
Don Miguel Gascon 2011 Malbec ($15)Made to be big, bold and solid, this wine beautifully displays what the malbec grape is capable of when made by dedicated vintners.
Being a typical malbec, the wine is inky - almost black in color - and displays the aromas of blackberry, plum, black cherries and a hint of mocha in the background. Cherries, plums, cinnamon and coffee are the dominant flavors along with the added complexity provided by a hint of oak.
This is truly a regal wine, with the charm and bearing of a modern classic. It is ready to drink now or can be set down for as long as five years to soften, mellow and take on the glow of a great classical wine. This wine will prove why malbec is being adopted by many red wine drinkers.
Don Miguel Gascon 2010 Reserva Malbec ($25) What is the difference between the 2011 Malbec and the 2010 Reserva Malbec?
Let’s start with grapes, which were picked by hand in the early morning from high altitude vineyards in the Andes Mountains. The higher altitude of these vineyards allows the vine and the grapes to take advantage of mineral-content water derived from the melting Andean snow.
The Don Miguel Gascon 2010 Reserva Malbec has been made in the Bordeaux tradition, but with no intention to emulate it. After a long and very slow fermentation, the wine was given 15 months in small oak casks to mature and soften even further.
This wine does display some tannin, but it is delicate and not mouth puckering. The finish is about as long as any we have experienced in our many years of writing about wine.
All of this effort resulted in an elegant wine, resplendent with all of the flavors and aromas that make a red wine great. This wine is more of an experience than a beverage.
Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein is a wine columnist and helps manage ArticlesOnWine.com with his wife, Sheila. He can be reached at frojhe@suddenlink.net.
