2024 Malbec

Although Malbec is still considered one of the five major varieties planted in Bordeaux along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot, acreage planted to Malbec in Bordeaux has declined for three-quarters of a century.  Today Malbec represents less than one percent of Bordeaux’s red grape acreage.  The turning point was the devastating frost of 1956 that not just damaged the vines but killed them. Malbec’s susceptibility to frost and Merlot’s ever growing popularity are the most significant reasons for Malbec’s loss of favor in France.  On the other hand, in Argentina Malbec has flourished.  Malbec is Argentina’s most widely planted red variety (112,000 acres) more than twice that of Bonarda (Charbono).  Argentina grows more than 75% of the world’s Malbec.  The Argentines grow vast quantities of Malbec at altitude, between 2,800-5,000 feet, and they attribute the depth of flavors and intense color of their wines to the grapes’ increased proximity to the sun, claiming that the reduced atmospheric filtration of the sun’s rays deepens the pigments in the grape’s skins. That is one of the reasons that in 2022, when fruit from the Fiddlehead Vineyard in El Dorado’s Fairplay appellation became unavailable, we stayed in that appellation and in 2023 established a relationship with Ken Buchert and his Dorado Canyon Vineyard.  Ken’s vineyard is planted at 2,300 feet, and like Barbera, Malbec seems to blossom up out of the heat of the central valley and away from the valley’s deep fertile soils.  In El Dorado County yields are much reduced and the grapes develop a robust color and the resulting wines have a tremendous depth of flavor.