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Mendoza and Malbec
Argentina has a long tradition of wine making. Unfortunately, the focus has generally been on quantity rather than quality. Despite being the largest producer of wine outside Europe for a long time, very little of the Argentinian wine production was considered good enough for the international market. This started to change in the 1990s. The international success of the Chilean winemakers got some winemakers in Argentina to start focusing on the international market.
Mendoza is the main wine region in Argentina. About 65% of all Argentinian wine is produced in the Mendoza province. Mendoza accounts for even a higher percentage of the Argentinian wine exports. With the Andes in the west, most vineyards in Mendoza are at altitudes of 600 to 1100 meters. With just 200 millimeter (~ 8 inches) of annual rain, irrigation is a must.
A lot of different grapes are used in the Mendoza region. But lately, Malbec has become the most important grape for quality wines from Mendoza. According to some sources, Malbec, along with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot were introduced in Argentina from Bordeaux in 1868. According to some other sources, Malbec was introduced in Argentina already in 1852.
The name Malbec is supposed to come from the Hungarian peasant who introduced the grape in France, although far from everyone believes this is correct. Despite being one of the allowed grapes in Bordeaux, Malbec is not much used nowadays in the region. Malbec is known under a lot of different names and is in many places blended with other grapes. In France, Malbec is only used in Cahors but is generally called Auxerrois rather than Malbec. Due to Argentina’s success with Malbec, some winemakers in Cahors have started to call their wines Malbec. Other places, for example Chile, have started to use Malbec but so far not with the same success as in Mendoza. More than 70% of all Malbec wines are made in Argentina.
One reason for the decline of Malbec in France is because it is sensitive to frost. This is not a problem in Mendosa. In Mendoza Malbec has the right environment and the quality of the wines is good. Malbec wines are not classified as great wines but many of them are good wines and offer very good value for the money.