Oz Wine Facts – Malbec Grapes and Varietals

An inky purple hued grape with robust tannins, Malbec grapes are one of the six grape varieties that form part of the famous red blend from Bordeaux. Although unconfirmed, a well-received theory claims that this grape was named after a Hungarian farmer who first popularized and then spread the Malbec variety throughout France.

Introduced in Australia in the 19th century, Malbec was initially used just for the production of bulk wine. But as newer clones of Malbec emerged over time, the grapevine plantation, as well as love for Malbec wines, increased significantly.

Take a quick look at some of the significant statistics for the year 2017 that highlight the growth, production and export data of Australian Malbec:

Viticulture
In 2017, about 135,133 hectares of land was planted with different grapevines throughout Australia. Of this, a total of 562 hectares made up the plantation of Malbec grapes. This amounts to 1% of the total Australian land planted with red grape varieties in 2017.

Grape Production
In the year 2017, a total of 1,929,630 tonnes of grapes were crushed for wine production. Approximately 6,554 tonnes of this crush constituted Aussie Malbec grapes, again amounting to 1% of the total red grape varieties crushed in various Australian wine regions.
The top 5 Aussie wine districts to harvest Malbec grapes in 2017 are Riverina (22%), Murray Darling–Swan Hill (17%), Langhorne Creek (15%), Padthaway (11%), and Riverland (9%).

Export Data
When the 2017 numbers for Australian Malbec wine export came in, of a total of 811,001,000 litres exported to various countries, the amount of Malbec wine varietals and blends exported amounted to 2,566,000 litres.
The top 5 export destinations in 2017 included – United Kingdom (70%), China (9%), USA (7%), New Zealand (6%), and Canada (5%).