How Argentina conquered Malbec

When Napoleon III proclaimed himself Emperor of France in 1852, he unwittingly kickstarted quality wine production in Chile and Argentina. A mass exodus of republicans ensued, one of whom happened to be a skilled agronomist from Tours named Michel Aimé Pouget. Pouget carried with him a cache of French grape cuttings that were to change the course of wine history and formed the basis for Argentina’s wine industry today.

Because of the phylloxera plague, French wine production fell by 75 per cent between 1875 and 1889. Today the vines of Europe are still grafted on to phylloxera-resistant American root stock. In Argentina and Chile, which have no phylloxera, old ungrafted European vines are flourishing. Malbec, a grape often maligned in its native land, triumphed 6,000 miles away, where it ripens easily. The Argentines claim their Malbec as the ‘original’. They have certainly made it their own.

Argentina also proffers a rich supply of Italian grapes courtesy of some two million migrants who arrived in the 60 years before the second world war. Barbera, Sangiovese and Nebbiolo have found a fruitful home here. Tannat from south-west France and Cabernet Franc have also flourished. This is a country in which anything will grow and because of the low rainfall, much of the farming is organic. There is almost no need to use chemicals where the risk of rot is so low.

What I find exceptional about the wines of Argentina is their ability to express varietal character. When you study wine, you learn to taste and identify grape varieties blind. Initially this is very difficult. Argentina really opened the secret to blind tasting for me. Argentine wines reveal exactly what the essence of each grape variety should be. The first time I tried Philippe Caraguel’s Cabernet Franc, I suddenly understood what it brought to the blends of Bordeaux: I could clearly taste its structural components and its aromatic refinement.