Malbec - The Queen of the Andes
Malbec is a fresh, juicy and intensely coloured red wine with fruity and herbal aromas. The very old French red wine variety Malbec is now mainly cultivated outside its country of origin. In Argentina, the grape is the star of red wine production and is considered the "Queen of the Andes". The vine loves a warm and dry climate and therefore also thrives very well in the South African wine region of Stellenbosch. There, Malbec is often processed as a single variety. However, it is usually blended with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, for example.
Reserve Malbec
- Val du Charron
- Red wine - dry
- South Africa - Wellington
- Malbec
- John Platter: 3.5 Stars / 85 Points
Content: 0.75 Liter (€18.60* / 1 Liter)
Bloos Rosé
- HPF Wines
- rosé wine - dry
- South Africa - Walker Bay
- Petit Verdot
Content: 0.75 Liter (€15.93* / 1 Liter)
Malbec
- Dornier Wines
- Red wine - dry
- South Africa - Helderberg-Stellenbosch
- Malbec
- Winemagazine South Africa 2025: 93 Punkte
Content: 0.75 Liter (€19.87* / 1 Liter)
Malbec
- Neethlingshof
- Red wine - dry
- South Africa - Stellenbosch
- Malbec
- John Platter: 3.5 stars / 84 points
Content: 0.75 Liter (€19.80* / 1 Liter)
Bacco Rosé
- Bacco Estate Winery
- rosé wine - dry
- South Africa - Simonsberg-Paarl
- Vermentino
- Gilbert & Gaillard International Challenge: Doppel-Gold
Content: 0.75 Liter (€19.93* / 1 Liter)
Malbec
- Rustenberg Wines
- Red wine - dry
- South Africa - Stellenbosch
- Malbec
- John Platter: 4 Sterne / 86 Punkte
- Tim Atkin 2025: 89 Punkte
- Michelangelo Awards 2025: Platin
Content: 0.75 Liter (€21.27* / 1 Liter)
The Yellow Wood Red Blend
- Spier
- Red wine - dry
- South Africa - Coastal Region
- Shiraz/Syrah
- Vintage 2018 - John Platter: 3.5 Stars
Content: 0.75 Liter (€21.27* / 1 Liter)
Valentina Malbec
- Vergenoegd Löw The Wine Estate
- Red wine - dry
- South Africa - Stellenbosch
- Malbec
- Michelangelo Awards 2025: Doppel-Gold
- Veritas Awards 2025: Silber
Content: 0.75 Liter (€26.40* / 1 Liter)
Reserve Malbec
- Val du Charron
- Red wine - dry
- South Africa - Wellington
- Malbec
- John Platter: 3.5 Stars / 85 Points
Content: 0.75 Liter (€19.93* / 1 Liter)
- Diemersdal Estate
- Red wine - dry
- South Africa - Durbanville
- Malbec
- John Platter: 3.5 Sterne / 85 Punkte
Content: 0.75 Liter (€21.27* / 1 Liter)
Bloos Rosé
- HPF Wines
- rosé wine - dry
- South Africa - Walker Bay
- Petit Verdot
Content: 0.75 Liter (€18.60* / 1 Liter)
Profiles
For Argentinians, Malbec is cult in a glass. The juicy red with its spicy fruit, floral and herbal aromas, a balanced and stable tannin structure and fresh acidity is very much to their taste. If Malbec is matured in barrels, it becomes even finer. Ultimately, the quality of the Malbec is determined solely by the altitude at which it is cultivated.
Flavours
Malbec wines are intensely coloured and can even have purple-black tones. They also taste of dark fruit, tobacco and chocolate. As with many wines, the flavour of Malbec varies depending on the climate zone in which it is grown. In cooler regions, it tastes of juicy mulberries, damson plums and black cherries. In warmer wine regions, its flavours tend towards blueberry and rock pear. If you want notes of cinnamon, baking spices, dark chocolate and vanilla, you need to age it in barrels.
Dominant notes:
- Red plum
- blueberry
- vanilla
- tobacco
- cocoa
Possible notes:
- Herbs/flowers: iris, sage, yerba mate tea
- Red fruit: red plum
- Dark fruit: black cherry, Oregon raspberry, blueberry, rock pear, grape jam
- Dried fruit: prune, corinth
- Earth/other: clay pot, cocoa
- Aged in oak: cinnamon, baking spices, dark chocolate, vanilla, tobacco
Harmonises with
The dense, high-alcohol Malbec wines harmonise perfectly with beef, such as a classic steak. But they also cut a fine figure with white meat such as veal, lamb or pork. Mushroom dishes that are flavoured with aromatic spices or dark toasted bread are also a winner.
General information
Under the name Côt or Auxerrois, the old French red wine variety Malbec was once cultivated in a good thirty départements in France. It is thought to have originated in the south-west of France, in the Cahors region in the province of Quercy. Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and Prunelart vines were crossed for the Malbec grape variety. Malbec is also said to be related to the Baroque, Manseng Noir, Claverie and Tannat grape varieties.
Malbec was already very popular with wine drinkers in the Middle Ages. Large quantities were exported to England under the name "Black Wine of Cahors". As the grape variety is very old, it has had countless names. It got its current name Malbec from a Hungarian breeder of the same name, who planted large areas of Malbec in the Bordelais region of France at the end of the 18th century.
The Malbec grape is no longer as common in France as it once was. It was not until the mid-19th century that phylloxera attacked it and destroyed many vines. In the 20th century, there was a severe frost that further decimated the vine stocks. Many French winegrowers then planted large parts of the Malbec vineyards with Merlot vines.
While French winegrowers increasingly withdrew from the production of Malbec, it became a star elsewhere. The Argentinians in particular love it. There it is a flagship of red wine production. No wonder that Argentina is now the country with the largest Malbec vine stocks. A good 75 per cent of the world's Malbec red wine production comes from Argentina. The Frenchman Michel Aimé Pouget brought the vine to Argentina in 1853, where he cultivated it at the foot of the Andes. Here, Malbec found optimal conditions and became the "Queen of the Andes" in its new home.
The demanding Malbec grape thrives well in the warm and dry Andean climate with plenty of sunshine and little rain. The cold winters and the large temperature differences between day and night also favour the vine and ensure healthy grapes. Conditions are similarly favourable in the South African wine region of Stellenbosch.
In addition to Argentina, South Africa and France, Malbec vines also grow in the United States, Chile, Australia and Italy. Around 40,600 hectares of vineyards worldwide are planted with Malbec vines.
Wherever they are grown, Malbec wines have an intense colour and age well. They are rarely produced as single-varietal wines, for example in the South African wine region of Stellenbosch. Malbec wines are usually part of a cuvée, such as in Bordeaux wines.