Mendoza

Because Mendoza by far has the most malbec in Argentina. The Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura (INV) counted 44,387 hectares of malbec across Argentina in 2019, 20.6 percent of all vineyard in the country. Of that, 37,754 hectares lay in Mendoza, or 85.1 percent.

Within the province itself, malbec is also the main grape: in 2019 malbec covered 24.9 percent of Mendoza's total vineyard area. Between 2010 and 2019 the malbec acreage in Mendoza grew by 41.6 percent, and in all of Argentina by 43 percent. Anyone who reads Mendoza and malbec together on a label is therefore looking at the most common combination in Argentine winegrowing.

From south-west France, from the region around Cahors, where the grape has been grown since Roman times and was called Côt. After the phylloxera plague at the end of the nineteenth century, the grape largely disappeared from view there.

Malbec came to Argentina in 1853 with the French agronomist Michel Aimé Pouget, who had been appointed by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. On 17 April 1853, with the support of governor Pedro Pascual Segura, the plan for an agricultural school and experimental farm, the Quinta Normal, was submitted to the provincial parliament of Mendoza. That date is the reason Malbec World Day falls on 17 April every year.

Luján de Cuyo is at the top. According to the INV figures for 2019, it had 8,765 hectares of malbec, 23.2 percent of the provincial total. It is followed by San Carlos with 5,649 hectares, Tunuyán with 5,185 hectares, Tupungato with 4,471 hectares and Maipú with 4,011 hectares.

Together these five departments account for almost three quarters of the Malbec in Mendoza. A label often shows only the province of Mendoza, but on wines with a narrower origin you will see the name of such a department or a smaller area within it. That says something about where the grapes grew, not about the style of the wine: that is decided by the producer.

A protected designation of origin with its own rules for vineyard and winemaking. In 1989 a group of producers in Luján de Cuyo decided to focus on the distinctiveness of their area. In 1991 the designation was recognised by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). According to the newspaper Los Andes, it was the first DOC of the American continent.

The rules are concrete: the vines must be at least 10 years old, there must be at least 5,000 plants per hectare, the yield may not exceed 10,000 kilos per hectare and the grapes are picked at at least 13.5 percent potential alcohol. The wine matures for at least 18 months, with a role for oak casks.

Currently 11 bottles, all from Phebus in Argentina. Malbec is well represented: the Malbec, the Reservado Malbec, the Gran Reservado Malbec and the Malbec Rosé. This way you can see on one shelf how the same grape ends up on the bottle as a red wine in different ranges and as a rosé.

There are also other red grapes from the same producer: the Reservado Cabernet Sauvignon, the Reservado Merlot and the Syrah. For white there are the Chardonnay, the Reservado Chardonnay, the Reservado Sauvignon Blanc and the Torrontés. Would you like to know which bottle suits your meal or occasion? Just give us a call or drop by at Brink 2 in Bathmen.

The shop is at Brink 2 in Bathmen. Open Tuesday to Friday from 09.00 to 18.00 and Saturday from 09.00 to 17.00. For advice, call 0570 541 278 or email info@bockje.nl.