Malbec (France vs Argentina)

Like the mythical bird Phoenix, the Malbec grape has a history of dying off then springing back to life. At one point in its history, Malbec was planted widely across France and botanists have unearthed evidence showing the grape had hundreds of local synonyms. It is still one of the six grapes allowed for blending in red Bordeaux wines, although it’s rarely planted in Bordeaux anymore. 
 
Its downfall in France came in 1956, when Malbec was nearly wiped out by a severe frost. Instead of replanting, growers ripped out most of the remaining Malbec vines and replaced them with other Bordeaux varietals. In France today, Malbec is mostly found in Cahors, in the Southwest, where’s it known as Côt (pronounced ‘coat’), although its popularity continues to dwindle. 
 
Malbec’s rebirth would take place in Argentina, where a regional governor in the mid-1800s brought grape vine cuttings, including Malbec, over from France in an effort to expand agriculture production. The grape almost died off again in the early 1900s after economic turmoil forced growers to pull it up in favor of grapes used to make cheap jug wines. Malbec made its most recent Phoenix-like rise in the early 2000s, when the economic and political climate stabilized in Argentina and growers discovered that the higher altitudes around Mendoza, with its bright sunshine and daily temperature shifts, were ideal for growing Malbec. It has since become the national grape of Argentina, which accounts for almost 75% of the world’s Malbec production. 
 
Of course, France and Argentina have drastically different climates and terroirs, so there are corresponding differences in the wines as well. In Cahors, wines made from Malbec are dark purple in color, tend to be leathery, higher in acid, more tannic, and have more integrated tart flavors of black currants and plums. Argentinian Malbecs are softer in structure with fruits like blackberry, plum and black cherry, that are fruit forward, juicy and have riper tannins and lower acidity.