April 17, 2015 is Malbec World Day — a great opportunity to pull the cork on a bottle of Malbec wine and to appreciate how quickly this grape variety has come to be an important part of the U.S. and global wine scene.
I have a warm spot in my heart for Malbec because it reminds me of all the nice people and great wines Sue and I encountered during our visit to Argentina a few years ago. So many interesting experiences learning about old vine Malbec from Roberto De La Mota at Mendel winery, about Malbec -Cabernet blends at Catena and that Argentina is much more than Malbec at a special tasting arranged by Andrés Rosberg.
My appreciation of Malbec deepened when I was asked to take part in the award-winning 2011 documentary Boom Varietal: The Rise of Argentine Malbec produced by Kirk Ermish and directed by Sky Pinnick. The economics of the Malbec story came to play a surprisingly large part in the film and so I had more screen time than I would ever have expected.
Malbec’s story is inevitably associated with Argentina, but it has become a world-wide phenomenon, breathing life into the Malbec industry back home in its native France (where it is often called Côt) and opening doors to wine-growers around the world (perhaps especially here in the Pacific Northwest).
I’ll be toasting the rise of Malbec with a glass of … what else? … Argentinean Malbec on April 17. Please join me. Cheers!
Thanks for the headsup on Malbec day…will open a bottle of Dirigutti tomorrow to celebrate!
The only thing I didn’t like in Boom Varietal was the New Yorker bartender with her myopic view of wine yet considered herself an expert…more like ‘eggspurt’
Let’s Celebrate with SUR de los Andes Malbec Reserva.
I agree, Guillermo! Cheers!
A toast to your health Mike with VERO Malbec obviously!
I share with you my note in Mendoza´s newspaper “Los Andes” as a tribute to Malbec!
http://www.losandes.com.ar/article/dia-internacional-del-malbec
Hope some time international wine communicators will ask what the VERO Malbec Circle is all about? Something will be said in the 9th Anual Conference of the AAWE!
Cheers to you and Sue!
Aldo
Cheers to you, Aldo, and to VERO, which I wrote about in Extreme Wine.
USA-Argentinian partnerships are also yielding beautiful wines. Darioush Capataz Malbec and Hand of God (a soccer reference) are both favorites.
Agreed. I haven’t tried the Darioush but I think Hand of God wines are very nice!
Mike – we roasted World Malbec Day with Gregg Alger and some 2013 Huston Vineyards Malbec from the Snake River AVA in Idaho. Mary Alger gave a brief history of Malbec to the crowd and quoted some retired Econ Prof from UPS. It was a great evening. Glad you were celebrating as well!
That sounds like a perfect evening!