Hailing from Luján De Cuyo, the Malbado Malbec's unusual history has led Santa Rita to dub it “the wine that was not supposed to be.”
You may not think that a Malbec from Argentina is unusual, but this one grown in the Ugarteche region of Luján De Cuyo in Mendoza, was hidden away – even from the owners of the vineyard.
The vines that these Malbec grapes were harvested from were planted in 1975 – but it was a Pinot Noir vineyard – a variety that is not as well suited to the harsh conditions in these high altitudes as Malbec, and the vines never gave proper yields anyway. So the owners considered grubbing up the vineyard. However, they were also keen to experiment and decided to cut back the main trunk of each vine to see if this would renew the vigour of the plants. The vines indeed grew new shoots – but to their great surprise, the fruit they bore was Malbec. The original vineyard thus must have been of Malbec vines grafted to Pinot Noir.
“We formed new plants from these shoots and were able to recover strong, healthy plants that yield Malbec with unique characteristics that we now use to make Malbado,” says Óscar Salas, the winemaker for Santa Rita’s reserve wines. This is also why the wine has the name Malbado – which translates as the wicked or evil one – because it hid itself from view. But it is “unusually concentrated in character”, the winery says. It is for this reason that it spends 12 months maturing in used French oak barrels – and is great value, retailing for £14.
