Malbec red wine variety

These are some of the descriptors for these wines used on De Long's Wine Grape Varietal Table

Malbec is the mainstay of the ”black wines” of Cahors and also appears in several blended wines of the Loire.

Malbec and health

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Outside France, this variety's major stronghold is in Argentina where for many years it was the workhorse variety providing the material for everyday wines. Until the early 1990s the variety was subject of vine pull schemes, but modernisation of Argentina's wine industry has allowed Malbec's ability to make quality wines to be developed.

The variety is certainly less common in Australia than it was a couple of decades ago, but there is some evidence that it may be making a comeback. Its role as blending material with Cabernet has been supplanted by Merlot, and while there has always been a few varietal Malbec wines around, the variety was fading away. But that may be about to change.

Interestingly, James Halliday's Varietal Wines (2004) makes no mention of the variety being grown in Australia. The 2006 Australian Wine Companion by the same author tells a different story; of the 172 new wineries listed, seven are using Malbec. This puts it in company with Sangiovese (9), Petit verdot (6), and Tempranillo (4) as a popular red variety for new entrants to the industry.

The 2007 Wine Companion lists another ten wineries using this resurgent variety. The 2008 edition adds another seven. My prediction is that we will see some interesting wines made from Malbec in the next few years, both from new and old vines.

Malbec and Health

In the early 1990s there was a massive resurgence in the consumption of red wine, based on the idea that they were good for your health. Shiraz was one of the main beneficiaries. Recent research indicates that the health benefits of red wine drinking depends on the presence of certain polyphenols called oligomeric procyandins (OPS). Malbec and Tannat seem to be the varieties with the most OPS.

The following Australian wineries use Malbec

Malbec wines and food