Malbec

Malbec is a French grape from Cahors in the south west, where it is called côt and makes a dark, firm, austere wine. It is a crossing of prunelard and magdeleine noire des Charentes, which makes it a half-sibling of merlot. It was one of the six permitted Bordeaux varieties and was widely planted there until the severe frost of 1956 killed much of it and growers replanted with merlot instead.

In Argentina it became something else. Cuttings taken to Mendoza in 1853, before phylloxera reached France, found a high, dry, sunny climate with a wide day-to-night temperature swing. The result is deep colour, plush texture, low acidity, soft tannin and flavours of dark plum, blackberry and cocoa, with violet aromatics. It is one of the clearest examples anywhere of a grape becoming a different wine in a different place.

The interesting Argentine malbec is now from altitude. The Uco Valley, at 1,000 to 1,500 metres, and specifically districts such as Gualtallary and Paraje Altamira, give tighter, more mineral and more structured wine than the ripe Mendoza style that first sold abroad. Cahors continues to make the firm French version, and it is worth trying once to see how far the grape moved.