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The Wine Column: Achaval Ferrer - Argento Malbec - Michel Torino Don David Malbec - Malbec Reserva

Anthony Rose
Saturday 31 August 2002 00:00 BST
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It's economy's in appalling shape, its football team's out of sorts, its share of the market is feeble compared to Chile. Then we go and rain on Argentina's parade by not buying its wines because of ancient animosities. It almost makes you want to weep for them. At least the Scots partly made up for it by posting record purchases of Argentinian wines in June out of sheer bloody-mindedness. Given economic instability and footballing gloom, Argentina could do with a reason to be cheerful. Luckily, it's found one in this year's fine harvest, plucked before a single French grape was even formed on the vine.

In March, I stood in the high, airy vineyards watching as the healthy, blue-black bunches of malbec grapes, destined for the winery, were secateured from the vine and the rotten grapes or raisins removed on sorting tables. Juicy enough to eat then, why shouldn't the wines be just as juicy to drink? Well, they can be, and they are. It seems odd that the malbec grape should be considered the least of the bordeaux varieties in its native France and yet thrive in Argentina. Decades of healthy Andean air and radiant sunshine have enabled it to transcend its mean French persona to become something more generously fruity.

It only just made it. Ten years ago, Argentinians were tangoing to the cabernet sauvignon tune, leaving poor old malbec on the shelf – or rather, off the shelf. They either pulled up the vines to plant potatoes or consigned it to amorphous plonk. If Argentina hadn't lost four-fifths of its valuable stock of old malbec, an area half the size of Bordeaux, it might be neck and neck with Australia today. It would certainly have had the means, because malbec, especially when made from old vines, makes a uniquely drinkable red wine with a pure taste of mulberry, strawberry and cherry and silky-smooth, palate-stroking textures.

Malbec's unique drinkability guarantees it a place not just in the sun but in our glasses. Plantings are increasing at a rapid rate, which is good and bad news. While styles are becoming more diverse, quality is on occasions compromised by a few wishy-washy wines made from younger vines. At least Argentina, to its credit, has not followed Chile's example of going down the American-inspired "icon wine" route. The tiny handful of ultra-expensive wines which do exist, like Achaval Ferrer, Alta Vista Alto and Michel Rolland's Yakochuya, are authentic expressions of grape and vineyard made from tiny yields of very old vines.

You don't, however, have to pay £49.95 for Achaval Ferrer – mind you, Moreno in London's Maida Vale (020-7286 0678) only had six bottles left when I rang, so someone must be enjoying the stuff. For sheer, plummy, juicy, gluggable fruit, the 2001 Argento Malbec (£4.99, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Majestic, Co-op, Asda) is an irresistible glugger. Bodega Norton also makes a good basic 2000 Malbec at £4.99 (Oddbins, Morrisons). Up the ladder, the 2000 Michel Torino Don David Malbec, (£7.99, Averys, Wimbledon Wine Cellar, London SW18, 020-8540 9979) is a voluptuous confection of concentrated berry fruitiness, while the 1999 Norton Malbec Reserva, (£9.99, virginwines.com, The Wine Society) is crammed with rich plum and mulberry fruit. Alta Vista's Alto (£29.95-£33.95, Lay & Wheeler, Colchester, 01206 764446; Roberson, London, 020-7371 2121) provides a glimpse of the style and concentration of rich mulberry fruit of which low-yielding malbec is capable.

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