Malbec grows almost everywhere: you can find it in France, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Spain, USA and Australia as well. Of course, the main two producing countries are France, in Cahors and Argentina.

The grape is thin-skinned with large berries: it needs a lot of sunlight and heat to mature fully. It likes well-irrigated and well-drained soils. Malbec is sensitive to cool and wet conditions as well as frost.

The leaves of the grape have three distinct lobes, the central lobe being the longest. Malbec berries are large, dark and round in large and loose bunches.

In his blog, Black Napkin, Mark, a college student near New York, encourages wine drinkers to discover less known grapes, such as Malbec, the "Wonder".

Read more about it.

Unfortunately it seems that wine critics, enophiles and various wine amateurs are getting in trouble in the area. Funny, witted, Peter May's books are a must when you love Cahors wines.

Peter May was signing his books when he tasted a great Cahors wine, Mercues. To learn more about Peter, Enzo, crimes and wines, read his blog, Peter May live and visit the Enzo website.

You're invited to join the fun by visiting the Wine Focus forum section,
WLDG Wine Focus
and posting your own comments, questions and tasting reports.

"The East Village Wine Geek" loves Malbec - from Cahors and from Argentina. He raves about it in his blog.

Discover what he has to say on our favorite grape and wines.