The Best New Wines from Argentina

Not surprisingly, Argentine producers in search of something easy to sell in a difficult world economy are flooding the market with new malbecs, and dozens of opportunistic U.S. importers seem only too willing to buy virtually anything that says malbec on the label. The result, needless to say, has been a distinctly mixed bag of current releases.

On the one hand, I tasted more bottles of mediocre Argentine wine than ever before, with too many malbecs showing medicinal, slightly green flavors; a lack of mid-palate flesh and sweetness of fruit; evidence of overextraction; and drying, rustic tannins. At the top end, however, the wines show increasing complexity and nobility, with real perfume, wonderfully seamless and rich mouth feel, clarity of flavor, and suave, thoroughly ripe tannins. While many of these wines are still priced at $40 or more, the best news is the amazing selection of truly stunning values in Argentine wine at $20 or less—and these are by no means limited to malbec. I should also note that among the large number of new players on the Argentine wine scene are some new wineries funded by smaller, quality-conscious outside investors, as opposed to quantity-oriented giants.

Recent vintages in Argentina. Vintages 2007 and 2008 were both coolish years for most of Argentina's growing regions. Moderate summer temperatures in a normally hot area offer the best grape-growers an opportunity to make wines with unusual vibrancy, definition and class. But both of these years also posed their challenges. The '07 growing season featured a good set and big clusters, then a nice summer without extreme heat, but some big hailstorms in January and February. The harvest started under ideal conditions, though heavy rains struck during the second half of March, so those growers who had heavy crop loads, especially at high altitude, had trouble ripening their fruit and making concentrated wines. But cool temperatures during the rainy period generally forestalled the spread of rot and mildew. Two thousand seven is widely considered to be an excellent year for the thicker-skinned malbec, which is generally harvested a week or two earlier than cabernet.