I am not a wine guy, but I loved the Malbed stew I made.

I am headed to France this weekend, and plan on stocking up on Malbec. I assume, the ones I will find will be Frog Malbecs instead of Gaucho Malbecs.

While the grape variety is similar, the taste isn't. The Argentinian Malbecs are much more oak'ish and more fruity while the French version is more on the tannin, earthy side. I like both (then again, I like most anything red) but prefer the South of the Border types.

I am one of those people wine gives headaches to. So I only buy it to cook with.

Would you recommend a wine that would be similar to Gaucho Malbec that would be available here in Germany or France.

Each bottle of Argentine Malbec is about $18. Kind of steep to throw in the pot.

I would go with any cheap Malbec from most anywhere if it is going into the pot. All you are really after is a slight wine finish to the dish so if you aren't drinking it, go for cheap.

Otherwise grab a really, really nice Bordeaux and never look back.

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Originally posted by Opus1:
I would go with any cheap Malbec from most anywhere if it is going into the pot. All you are really after is a slight wine finish to the dish so if you aren't drinking it, go for cheap.

Otherwise grab a really, really nice Bordeaux and never look back.

+1

Absolutely no sense in spending $18 or even $10 for wine to use in a stew. Get the cheapest real red wine (not some kind of sugared Mogan David 20/20, for example) you can find and use it. Very few people will ever be able to tell any differences and they will probably be master wine tasters.

Gato, you kinda threw some shade on Mad Dog 20/20. Some of my best friends died drinking that stuff. In large quantities it seemed to have a terminal effect. In small quantities you just seemed to wake-up sleeping on the street with a dead mouse in the bottom of the bottle. I always marveled that they could crawl in, finish the dregs, and be too big to crawl out. I'm sure I studied that problem in Fluid Dynamics, I just don't remember.

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I just don't remember.

Too much Mad Dog has contributed to the problem. Me too, but it was Strawberry Hill.....

I bought a dozen 5-7 Euro bottles of red wine in Saint Avold, France yesterday. It was our first trip over there, and we had plans to stop at the American Cemitary after shopping but the French decided to unleash a hell of a rainstorm about the time we got done.

German grocery stores pretty much suck, so it was nice to have the variety that the French are offered in Cora. Reminded me of a Albertsons built into a Whole Foods connected to a Walmart. It was something wonderful.