75 cities celebrate Malbec World Day

A total of 75 cities around the world took part in this year’s Malbec World Day which officially fell on 17 April, the ninth year that Wines of Argentina has run the programme celebrating the country’s famed red grape.

Officially falling on 17 April, Wines of Argentina’s Malbec World Day campaign consisted of a series of celebrations throughout April in 75 cities around the world. Wines of Argentina welcomed the ninth edition of the Malbec World Day with an exclusive launch event at restaurant and wine bar La Malbequería in Buenos Aires on 4 April.

Events were subsequently scheduled around the world, including a celebration at the Argentine Embassy in Washington DC on 11 April. The US is the main market for Argentine Malbec, with 38% of total exports by value. Events also took place in New Jersey, New York and in Chicago, where private seminars were hosted by Master Sommeliers with thematic tasting featuring 30 Malbecs.

In the UK, Wines of Argentina hosted an event at the Argentine Embassy in London on 25 April focusing on regionality, terroir and altitude, with tables for each of the regions from which Malbec is produced. There was also a blind tasting table to see if guests could spot the differences between the wines from different regions. The UK is the second-most important destination for Malbec, with 15% of total exports by value.

Elsewhere, celebrations were held in cities including Montreal, Dublin, Copenhagen, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, São Paulo, Lima, Bogotá and Mexico City. Also coinciding with 17 April, bloggers shared images and notes of the Malbecs they tasted on social media, co-ordinated by Christy Canterbury MW, using the hashtag #MalbecArgentino.

Malbec World Day was created by Wines of Argentina in 2011 with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of the Nation, the Argentine Agency for Investment and International Trade, and the Argentine Wine Corporation. Each year, the activities are recorded on the website www.malbecworldday.com.

This ties in with Wines of Argentina’s annual campaign, called ‘breaking new ground’. Centred around three main pillars, including the regionalisation of Argentina, the success story of Argentine Malbec and celebrating the new generation of winemakers in the country, the campaign aims to demonstrate how the country is “modern and forward-thinking”.

Linked to this was WofA’s disruptive marketing campaign, known as Vino Argentino: A Blind Tasting Story, which was unveiled in January. Featuring a love story between two people from opposite worlds, it consisted of a 10-part fiction miniseries, communicating the “evolution and differential attributes” of Vino Argentino. Featuring Justin, a successful young craft brewer from California, who is “very disciplined in his own mess – restless, impetuous, impulsive and self-confident”, and Pilar, an “organised and precise” Argentine sommelier, their story sees them take a journey through the wine-growing regions of Argentina, during which they find common ground despite their differences.

The miniseries premiered on YouTube and WofA’s social media channels. WofA is planning similar initiatives in the UK to tie in with its existing events, including the Barullo Sessions, a series of trade tastings highlighting the full spectrum of wines hailing from Argentina, going beyond the easy-drinking reds for which the country is most known.