Malbec, observed Hugh Johnson, is a “conundrum.” Sometimes it is light in color as well as body. That’s what it tends to be like in the Loire, where the grape is called côt (apparently its original name). It used to be grown in Bordeaux, where it was used primarily as a sort of filler, rounding out the cabs and merlots. In Cahors, its major French venue today, it is sometimes called côt noir or Auxerrois. There malbec tends to be bold, spicy and dark. “Dark,” in fact, is one of the wine writer’s favorite adjectives for this allotrope of malbec. This was the “black wine” that Thomas Jefferson would sometimes add to his claret to deepen its color.

But malbec is a fussy grape. The French climate is a challenge. Emigrés brought malbec to Argentina, where it really came into its own. In the valleys of Mendoza, in north-west Argentina, malbec can produce luscious wine that blooms and lingers in the mouth. I have not yet had anything to say about malbec in these adventures on the wine route (if I might crib from Kermit Lynch). To fill that lacuna, I gathered six serious thinkers and six typical specimens of malbec from France and Argentina. What follows is our report.

We........

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