As the temperatures have receded, the red wine season is upon us, and one of my favorites is Malbec.
It’s a flinty wine, high in tannins, produced from gritty deep purple grapes grown at 4,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level in sand and gravel soils that make weeds turn and run, a hearty drink well suited for cold nights, served up with simmering soups and stews or spicy chili.
After three hours of working on a recent Saturday in chilly winds and stinging sleet, a Malbec seemed the appropriate wine for dinner. By coincidence, I had discovered a new one for me, Domaine Bousquet. I bought it out of curiosity, along with another Malbec that I had previously liked.
With harbingers of winter shut away outside and our backs to the wood stove, my wife, Sandy, and I tried the new Malbec, comparing it with the previous favorite, both accompanied by the last bit of spicy summer sausage.
In the side-by-side comparison, Bousquet blew the other wine away. The wine is uncharacteristically smooth with complex layers of flavor and just a hint of the tannin that distinguishes most Malbecs.
Bousquet, like other Malbecs, is so dark and inky that when held up to a light it shows only a red rim around the top of the wine. The grapes were first developed in France, where they are also called cot. They were used primarily for blending in Bordeaux wines and received little notice outside the vineyard.
The grape gained its real popularity in Argentina, where winemakers have developed a worldwide base of fans.
The Bousquet family came to Argentina from a long wine making tradition around Carcassonne, a fortified city dating back to 3500 B.C. in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Around 1990, Jean Bousquet decided to break from family tradition and started looking around other areas of the world to raise grapes and make wine in the French style.
In 1998, he bought 500 acres of really rough land in Tupungato, in Argentina’s Mendoza region. The land, which is at 4,000 feet above sea level in the Uco Valley, had never been planted in grapes before. Bousquet started planting Malbec, and by 2007 his wines made from organically grown grapes began winning international accolades. The Bousquet wines are rated in the top 10 in the region, and the 2013 Malbec received an 88 out 100 from American wine critic Stephen Tanzer, who is the editor and publisher of the bimonthly International Wine Cellar magazine and an author and columnist for Food and Wine magazine.
And there are Massachuetts ties. Bousquet’s co-founder, Labid Ameri, got his MBA at Northeastern University and gave up a position as a trader at Fidelity Capital Markets in Boston to start the winery.
Jean Bousquet has retired and has sold his interest to the next generation of family members, but his departure doesn’t seem to have affected the wines.
They have consistently produced quality wines, and they are regularly rated by different critics from 88 to 90 points. They’re consistently good and reasonably priced.
Domaine Bousquet is 85 percent Malbec, 5 percent cabernet sauvignon, 5 percent merlot and 5 percent syrah grapes, which are hand-picked in April. After 12 to 30 days of fermentation, the wine is aged in French and American oak for six months and at least four months in the bottle, according to the winery’s website.
Winemaker Miguel Lenin Martinez notes that the wine has intense aromas of blackberry and black pepper and flavors of blackberry, ripe plum and chocolate. Domaine Bousquet is ready to drink now, but it will age nicely up to six years if put back.
Martinez recommends that the wine accompany red meat, red sauces, cheese and pasta dishes. We had it with grilled lamb chops and a very rich beet crumble. It was a fine match.
Domaine Bousquet produces about 2.5 million liters of all of its wines, which are distributed in 45 countries around the world.
The Malbec is widely available in the Pioneer Valley. Rick Starky at State Street Wine, Beer and Spirits in Northampton has both the Reserve at $10.99 and the Premium Domaine Bousquet, which is a few dollars more.•
Suggestions for wines in $10 range are always appreciated.
Warren Johnston can be reached at warren.nelson.johnston@gmail.com
