The Malbec grape variety originally came from south-west France and was introduced into Argentina in the mid 19th century. Malbec is actually a slang term derived from mal bec (bad beak) which gives you an idea of what the French thought of it. Unsurprisingly, it's not actually grown much in France.
However, over the last 100 years, Argentinian wine producers improved the quality of the wine made from Malbec.
The grape is small, black and fruity. One of the characteristics of Argentina is that it doesn't rain much, which mean that the vineyard can control the concentration of sugar in the grapes and thus the sweetness and fruitiness. Malbec needs a lot of sun to ripen and is suited to the Argentinian climate.
The wine produced from the Malbec grape is smooth and fruity and goes well with steak. It has become more and more popular and is one of Argentina's top wines.
