Argentine Malbec doesn't get much finer than this. From a Bordeaux wine family, Hervé came to South America to look for a vineyard and fell in love with old vine Malbec. He not only bought vineyards but also made his home there. Having started in Mendoza, he now has an estate in Patagonia too. He runs his properties like a top Bordeaux château, with impressive barrel cellar and meticulous attention to detail. This hugely impressive cuvée comes from 30 year old Malbec vines grown in Patagonia's Río Negro. Made like a fine claret, the juice was pumped over to extract colour from grape skins during fermentation then aged for 12 months in French oak barriques. Silky with violet and liquorice aromas and dense black fruit, it's perfect with beef.

Located in the far southerly growing region of Altamira en La Consulta, the Nicasia vineyard is the only planting of the special Catena Selection of Malbec cuttings in this traditional area for Malbec. La Consulta was Nicolas Catena's father Domingo's preferred Malbec location. In 1898, Nicola Catena left his homeland of Italy, and sailed for the land of plenty and opportunity: Argentina. It wasn't long before Nicola planted his first Malbec vineyard in Mendoza in 1902. Although traditionally used as a blending grape in Bordeaux, Nicola believed in the potential of Malbec as a single varietal wine, and suspected that it might uncover its hidden splendour in the cooler climes of the Andes. Flash forward a few decades, to where Nicola's grandson, Nicolas Catena Zapata, has taken over the management of the business. He sold off the bulk producing parts of the company, focusing instead on producing premium Mlabec and Cabernet. To that end, he began searching for the best sites in Mendoza to plant. In 1992, he settled on Gualtallary Alto - the highest and moste Western part of Tupungato. Today, the wines of Bodega Catena Zapata are sourced from six historic estate vineyards: Angélica, La Pirámide, Nicasia, Domingo, Adrianna and Angélica Sur.

HOUGHTON C.W. Ferguson Cabernet Malbec, Great Southern

Bleasdale is “one of the most historic wineries in Australia ... in 2015 celebrating 165 years of continuous winemaking by the direct descendants of the founding Potts family.” (Halliday). Among many major awards, they’ve won the Jimmy Watson Trophy.

https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/orchestracms/eosportal/pdf/tasting-notes/jim-barry-clarevale-cabernet-malbec-2018.pdf

A traditional red grape variety from Bordeaux in France, Malbec is increasingly being grown in Australia. The grape is renowned for its deep colour, generous fruit expression and full flavour. Margaret River wine region offers great growing conditions for the variety. Malbec wines from this region show great depth and beautifully reflect the character of the grape. This is not surprising considering Margaret River and Bordeaux experience similar climatic conditions.

Aromas of violets, spice, ripe blueberries and boysenberry, with hints of mocha oak. The palate shows fresh fruits of red cherry, fresh cranberries with savoury chalky tannins which give length and finesse.