The Best Malbec

The Malbec grape offers a fascinating look into the rise and fall and rise again of a grape variety!

Originally one of the primary Bordeaux varietals (and still a mainstay in the Cahors region of France), the grape lost favor in France in the 1950's and 60's due to its sensitive nature to things like frost and mildew. Before that happened; however, Malbec was introduced into Argentina by a French agriculturist in 1868. It maintained a relatively nondescript existence there until the 1990's when it exploded in popularity with Argentina now accounting for 75% of the entire world's acreage of this variety.

Ranging in style from relatively simple, cheap wines meant to be drunk young to those with significant staying power (and time in oak), there's plenty to explore in this extremely popular variety. We cover them all in our list of the best Malbec.

While Argentina still dominates, plantings are growing all over the world with lots of good inexpensive Malbec being made in California and Chile and even more unexpected places like New Zealand.

Of recent note are some excellent examples from Washington State. We think Malbec could be the next big variety in Washington behind its excellent Merlot.

Ready to explore all that Malbec has to offer? Particularly good with steak and most things off the grill, we love this variety. Come explore the best Malbec under $20 with us!