Posted by JASON

Wine consumers have recently trended to “trade down” on their purchases, a phenomenon the Wall Street Journal recently called looking for “fine wines on a beer budget.”

Total U.S. wine sales grew by less than 1 percent in the past year — the slowest rate in a decade, the Journal reported. However, the article says sales of wines in the $11-$20 range grew much greater than those over $20.

So, where are the best places to find these values? Among the places we’ve seen growth is in South America, particularly among malbec varietals.

Malbec originated in France’s Bordeaux region, but Argentinian wine makers have been happy to give the grape a home in a climate where a large daily temperature variance benefits the varietal.

One of the malbecs we are featuring comes from Maipe, located in Argentina’s Mendoza region.

This Maipe offering is popular with customers thus far — in fact we already sold through our supply of the wine ($9.99/bottle) that comes in the standard 750 ml bottle size (although we have more coming next month).

Not to worry though, last week we received 15 cases of the malbec in the convenient 1.5 liter size, also known as a “magnum” bottle, amd we offering for just 15.99 per bottle,  or 86.35 for six bottles, after case discount.

Maipe Malbec has a deep purple color with violet tints, and complex plum, fig, strawberry, spices and floral aromas. It’s  rounded and velvety tannins offer excellent length with a distinguished character and provides a good pairing to dishes including game, roasted red meats, pasta or pizza.