Malbec grape variety is usually associated with Argentine wines, since it is the most grown stock in the country. Argentina is the fifth world wine producer and one of the main wine exporting countries in the world. Malbec grape variety is a red wine grape, followed in popularity by the Bonarda and the Cabernet Sauvignon. It usually produces varietal wines, which means that one or more wine varieties are used. It is sometimes blended with the Cabernet Sauvignon. The Malbec is native to France and its vineyards are numerous in the Cahors region –located in the southwest of France. In Bordeaux, it lost popularity due to a frost that destroyed 75% of the vineyards in the 1950s. It was planted in Argentina halfway through the 20th century; the country is today the first Malbec producer in the world. It is a purple-coloured thin-skinned grape, which needs more sun than other varieties to ripen. As it seems, it does not resist frosts well, taking into account what happened in Bordeaux. Malbec wines are of a dark colour and have plenty of tannins as well as a particular plum flavour. In general, they are intense wines; hence, many wineries tend to blend it with other varieties in order to create assemblage wines. By means of Argento’s blog, The Real Argentina, discover the qualities that have turned the Malbec into the most popular variety in Argentina. It is particularly important in the region of Mendoza, the most important wine producing region in the country with over 80% of Malbec wines being produced there. Discover restaurants and bars where you can taste the intense flavour and aroma of its wines and find out which food is paired with this variety. Our simple pairing guide will give you the needed tips in order for you to choose the perfect menu to go with your Malbec wine. Actually, it is not difficult to pair with, since it combines both with complex dishes and with simple everyday recipes. For example, it is particularly well paired with the Argentine roast, with dishes dressed with carbonara sauce, with lentil stews or with slightly spicy cheeses. Moreover, you will find out that the different Malbec wines produced by Argento are found among the favourite ones of some of the best Argentine sommeliers. There are important differences between Argentine Malbec wines and French Malbec wines. The former are more velvety and darker whereas the latter are more structured. The recommended temperature to serve a varietal wine is 16 degrees. This grape variety is so popular in the country that every 17th of April the Malbec Wine Day is celebrated. The celebration commemorates the day that the Argentine president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento asked agronomist Michel Aimé Pouget, also known as Miguel Pouget, to bring new varieties to Argentina. Among them, the Malbec was found.
After participating in five demanding competitions over the past decade, Martín Bruno has finally nailed it to become Argentina’s best sommelier. He will now represent his country in the Americas’ cup in 2018.
Competing to be crowned kings of the Campeonato Federal del Asado 2017. Under the shadow of the Obelisco in the centre of 9 de Julio, more than 350,000 people thronged the smokey, meat smelling streets as Argentina’s 23 provinces and hosts – Buenos Aires – represented at the second annual BBQ contest.
The fastest way to make enemies in Argentina is to compare the asado to a barbecue. It’s the same, right? No, the locals will tell you, through gritted teeth, it is not the same. Your gas-fuelled blow-torching of conveyor-belt beef patties has nothing in common with our sacred asado.
There aren’t many days on the calendar that offer an excuse to toast the old man. Every encounter deserves a special wine. Tell me how you celebrate, I’ll tell you what to uncork. Father’s day.
Mooching around Mendoza’s vineyards is never a bad idea, but head there at the end of summer and you’ll be lucky enough to catch the cultural highlight of the Mendocino calendar – la Fiesta de la Vendimia – Mendoza’s grape harvest festival.
You’ve got a favourite corner restaurant in Buenos Aires, haven’t you? Whichever neighbourhood you live in or have stayed in, there’s surely one establishment, a restorán de la esquina, that’s captured your heart. Here, The Real Argentina visits four emblematic restaurant esquinas in Buenos Aires.
Wintertime in Argentina – cosy up inside with a large glass of Malbec and serve yourself a warming bowl of locro, the hearty meat and corn-based stew of northern Argentina. Locro is no everyday meal. Almost a national dish, locro is a hearty, yellowy-orange concoction most significantly linked with the 25th May celebrations of Argentine independence.
MENDOZA – Huddled together in small groups, mentors rub backs and mop their wards’ brows, sommeliers easily distinguished from other revellers at a cocktail party thanks to perfectly pressed black suits and aprons. The tension and nerves crackled like an Andean electric storm around the Park Hyatt Mendoza hotel as 60 competitors from around the world chewed down cuticles, waiting to find out whether they’d earned one of 15 coveted places in the Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World Argentina 2016 semifinal.
In part five of The Real Argentina’s somms series, we meet Paz Levinson, the second of two Argentine sommeliers competing in the A.S.I. Concours du Meilleur Sommelier du Monde 2016 (A.S.I. Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World). Currently ranked number one in both the Americas and Argentina, and the only Argentine to qualify as an Advanced Sommelier from the UK’s Court of Master Sommeliers, Paz will be going for a titles hat-trick at the world championship, which is being held in Mendoza for the first time on 15-20 April 2016.
One of two Argentine sommeliers who will compete in the A.S.I. Concours du Meilleur Sommelier du Monde (A.S.I. Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World), we meet Martín Bruno, sommelier at top Buenos Aires restaurant Tegui, in part four of The Real Argentina’s somms series. Martín spills the beans on how he’s been diligently preparing for this prestigious competition, which is being held in Mendoza for the first time on 15-20 April 2016.