Is the Future of Malbec in Blends?
Challenging topic developed by Will Lyons in the Wall Street Journal today: the future of Malbec would be in blends.
Let’s go back to the logic behind the idea: Lyons was introduced to Malbec in Cahors and enjoyed the wines. He then discovered Argentine Malbecs when back in the US. Finally he met Hervé Fabre, a Bordeaux-born winemaker who helped developing Malbec wines in Argentina. Fabre thinks that Malbec would gain a lot as part of a blend. He blended Malbec with Cabernet Franc, Syrah or Touriga Nacional, a Portuguese variety. Lyons was “looking for a blend that freshens the variety”. According to him, the various blends created by Fabre achieved this freshness.
Malbec is sometimes blended in Cahors with Tannat or Merlot, precisely to achieve this frehsness and to shorten the ageing time of the wine. Of course, Cahors producers are not allowed to blend Malbec with Touriga Nacional or Syrah but the basic principle of blending is a familiar one to them. It would be interesting to see what result Hervé Fabre would achieve with Tannat or Merlot.
Do whatever it takes to make good wines. Look at the Super Tuscans. The AOC police said.. you can’t blend Sangiovese with Cabernet. The makers said, stuff you. They now sell their wines for more than the purists could ever dream of. And it would be categorised in France as table wine. Hah. The market finally decides what things are worth, not bureaucrats.
Malbec can obviously be outstanding on its own — especially from Argentina where winemakers experiment with different regions, terroirs, altitudes, etc. — but we think Malbec can also be used in some really beautiful blends, expanding its horizons even further. You might like to check out Andrew Catchpole’s recent blog post on the topic for The Real Argentina: http://www.therealargentina.com/argentinian-wine-blog/the-argentina-wine-making-process-malbec-blends/