Wine · Grape variety · Short entry

Malbec

Côt

A black grape from south-west France, officially named Côt there and best known abroad as Malbec. It is the emblematic grape of Cahors and now grows most widely in Argentina, which had 40,000 ha in 2015. Its wines are deeply coloured and tannic.

Origins and names

Pl@ntGrape places its origin in south-west France. DNA work in Montpellier made it a cross of Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and Prunelard, a pedigree VIVC lists as confirmed by markers. Its mother is shared with Merlot. VIVC records 194 synonyms, a sign of how widely it was once grown in France; in Bordeaux it was called noir de Pressac.

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Cahors and Argentina

In Cahors the variety is 'très majoritairement présent', and the specification calls it the appellation's emblematic grape. Young Cahors is deep in colour, with red or black fruit and spice. In Bordeaux, Côt was among the small-berried varieties planted after 1709 but fell out of use after phylloxera. In France it fell from 10,752 ha in 1958 to 4,801 ha in 1979, then recovered to 7,625 ha in 2018.

Argentina is now its main home: OIV counted 40,000 ha there in 2015, 17.8% of the national vineyard and almost double its area of 15 years before.

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How it connects

Wine region

grown in Bordeaux
grows Argentina
grows Mendoza
grows Uco Valley
grows Salta
grows Patagonia
grows Colchagua Valley
grows Ica
grows Touraine
grows South-West France
grows Cahors

Grape variety

related Merlot