Malbec is one of those
variety not well understood by local consumers, perhaps due to insufficient
marketing and awareness, resulting in better understanding of the variety and
it’s merit, after all Malbec is the calling card of Argentinian red wine
productions with mind boggling success on all fronts and de facto choice when
eating grilled / roast beef.
How does South African
Malbec fare? Well majority of what is grown ends in “Bordeaux” style inspired blends
and there have been an increasing number of straight, single (i.e minimum 85%)
varietal Malbec that shows, South Africa can produced varietally correct and
savoury Malbec, yes it will not be the richness and fullness of it’s
Argentinian counterparts, but that is another debate and feature!!
With tomorrow being Good
Friday and good Christians and Catholics will be eating fish, today is the day
to indulge in great cuts of beef, prepared the way you like and paired with a
bottle of Malbec, tonight
Not all prime meat is equal - picture courtesy of The Art of Butchery (Facebook)
What will I recommend?
Simple the best offering from Stellenbosch, and South Africa for it’s price, over
delivering on many aspect, honest, textbook Malbec, packed with blueberries,
plums and mulberries, delicately juicy with spicy farewell, fairly full bodied
too, perfect at this time when temperature is dropping!
So not too sure what local
Malbec to seek out? Herewith my suggestions.
Neethlingshof Estate Malbec 2011 - perfect bottle for tonight supper
Neethlingshof Estate
Malbec 2011 is the one to seek one, cellarmaster De Wet Viljoen is doing a
stellar jobs here and it has been consistent over the last few vintages, in
fact the only local Malbec that sell well on a wine lists, questions is why don’t
we see it on our majority of grill / steak house wine lists, nationally? Anyway that is
also for another debate!
Enjoy your Malbec tonight!
Cheers
