Hahn Estate Malbec, From California

I hear it at least once a week:  ” I just had this great Argentinian Malbec!”  Malbec has of course become synonymous with Argentina, though I was recently reminder that like most wine grapes, Malbec isn’t restricted to one region or country.  It has freely traveled the world, without a passport.  It’s a grape that knows no boundaries!

Argentina has embraced the Malbec grape as their own, much like Chile has done with Carmenere.  And like Carmenere, Malbec is originally from the Bordeaux region of France, primarily used as a blending grape.  It’s still grown in Bordeaux where it is known as ‘Cot’ (though in St. Emilion it’s called Pressac.)

Admittedly, I haven’t had the chance to taste many Argentinian Malbecs.  The few I’ve had were decent, and generally reasonably priced.  When my buddy Anthony told me he was opening up a bottle of Malbec this last weekend, I assumed it was from Argentina.  But it turns out this one was from the lovely Santa Lucia Highlands, just a few hours north of Los Angeles.

Anthony had recently returned from a weekend trip to Carmel, and apparently he made a few winery stops along the way.  One of those stops was at the Hahn Winery tasting room, about an hour southeast of Carmel and Monterey, and an hour and a half north of Paso Robles.

The grapes for this wine are grown at their ‘Hook Vineyard’ in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and has historically been used by Hahn as a blending grape in their Bordeaux-varietal wines.  Only in recent years has there been enough crop to make a limited-edition Malbec.

The ‘07 Hahn Estates Santa Lucia Highlands Malbec is made from 100% Malbec aged for 14 months in 70% new French oak barrels.  That oak is evident on the nose of this deep-colored wine, with hints of vanilla swirling amongst the aromas of fresh blueberry pie. The palate is big and rich, with flavors of plum and raspberry (again, I kept imagining a fresh, homemade pie!), with subtle spice and a nice, smooth finish.  This wine has a substantial, creamy mouthfeel, which will never elicit a complaint from me.  It was almost too big to drink sans food, but we’re big boys and we pulled it off.  As I said to Anthony, “this wine is a Steak Night wine”.  Seriously, this wine can handle beef all day long.

For $28, this is solid, and I’m now on the hunt for other California Malbecs to try.  The next time someone tells me about an Argentinian Malbec that they’ve tried, I’m going to tell them to check out the Hahn Estates Santa Lucia Highland Malbec as well.  Why have boundaries?