As the wine world, particularly Argentina, raises a glass to Malbec World Day on April 17th, we share a bottle with Cactus Club Cafe’s Vice President, Service and Head Sommelier Sebastien Le Goff, to discover what makes this wine a pleasure to drink any day of the year.
“The flavor profile is blackberry, plum and dark cherry. When aged in oak barrels for an extensive period of time, it can have some sweet tobacco aromas. With age in the bottle, it shows aromas of leather and violet flower.” – Sebastien Le Goff
Malbec World Day is celebrated on April 17, to commemorate the day when the 7th President of Argentina, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, officially made it his mission to transform Argentina’s wine industry. Under his command, these unique vines were brought to Argentinian shores in 1853 by Michel Aimé Pouget, a French soil expert. The vines flourished, and today Malbec is positioned as Argentina’s star varietal.
What makes Malbec wine unique?
In general, it is a dark wine, easy to drink, with smooth tannin. It is a very food-friendly wine, and has a medium alcohol strength, making it easy to share a bottle between two people over a meal. Malbec is also higher then most other red wine varieties in ‘resveratrol’ which some say has anti-cancer benefits.
As an expert in matching wines to flavours, what do you recommend as the perfect pairings from our menu?
Malbec pairs well with steaks. Our new Steak Frites would be fabulous served with a glass of our Tintonegro Special Selection. Alternatively, the Cajun spices in our Creole Chicken would also be a good pairing with this wine.
At Cactus, we’re passionate about sourcing our food and wines from top suppliers. Understanding the environment and people behind the product is essential to this. What can you tell us about our featured Malbec, Tintenegro Special Edition?
The team behind this wine are talented people from high profile wineries in Mendoza, Argentina. The vines are grown at high altitude in the Andes Mountains, which give it a high acidity and therefore a refreshing palate.
Delicious berry flavours, undercover health benefits and a serious wine offering excellent value – we will certainly raise a glass to that! Come and try our Malbec ‘Tintenegro’ by the glass or the bottle.