Forget The Whales.
Save The Malbecs!

This is not a story about rosé wines, although it starts out as one. It actually is a cautionary tale about malbec wines. In 1999, when I first put pen to paper about wine, I banged the gong loudly about the beauty of dry pink wines (aka, rosé, rosato, rosado). At the time, my gong was small, so not a lot of people heard my plea to drink more pink wine.

It took a long time and a lot of banging, but the wine drinking proletariat eventually caught on to dry pink wines (quite a bit different from the non-dry, semisweet white zinfandel style of pink wine that my neighbor Lynn enjoys). Today, dare I say, they are en vogue, and I still enjoy pink wines. Unfortunately, I remain hopelessly unvogue, but for other reasons. Dry pink choices abound wherever I go (Atlanta's Restaurant 1280 offers three dry pink wines and one sparkling pink wine). So I may be unhip, but at least I'm not unhappy.

This naturally leads me to malbec, which I am increasingly unhappy about.

I conducted my first blind tasting of Argentine malbecs back in 2004. Nearly all malbecs these days hail from Argentina, with small exceptions like Tiger Mountain Vineyards in North Georgia, Chile and malbec's ancestral home in Cahors, France. I was stunned by their approachable, chocolaty, meaty, root beerlike qualities. A trip to Argentina in 2005 sealed the deal. I was hooked on malbecs.

When I returned from South America, I was encouraged by the small wave of malbec washing up in this market. Could it be that I had stumbled on a slightly esoteric wine that lots of other people liked, too? Yes, malbecs started showing up everywhere, at least for a while.

Ah, it was the best of times and the worst of times. Like all waves, the swell of malbecs has begun to recede back into the sea of nowhere wines. A recent casting call for malbecs netted me a mere nine wines to try. That's not all that is in the market, but a similar request for malbecs two years ago brought forth nearly two dozen.

My gong these days is not much bigger, but perhaps big enough for us to start the campaign: Save the Malbec!

What I need you all to do is go out and buy malbec wine, if not one I recommend, then one of the malbecs suggested by your trusted local wine purveyor. Go home, enjoy these wines and repeat this process every two weeks until I say stop. The combined economic pressure will force the suppliers and wineries to declare Atlanta the Malbec Capital of the World. In 2010, we'll hold the first Malbecaroo in Stone Mountain Park, a sort of Bonnaroo Music Festival for all things malbec. If this plan is not implemented soon, I'm afraid malbec will go the way of the wine cooler.

Why go through this social revolution for a small, blackish grape? Well, malbecs are tremendously food friendly. They are my first-line choice of wines for any red meat coming off the grill (or a grilled portobello mushroom slathered with a little blue cheese. Yum!). Furthermore, they are inexpensive. The most expensive malbec from my small sampling was $25, but generally you'll find that $12 is a more typical price.

Beyond all those perfectly good reasons, malbec is easy to pronounce. It's always nice to have inexpensive, food-friendly wines that are easy to ask for, whether you're dining at a favorite bistro or strolling the aisles of your wine shop. Think of malbec as the comfort food of the wine world. Your efforts to bring this deserving grape back from the brink of extinction will be most appreciated by wine lovers everywhere.

Viu Manent, Secreto Malbec, Colchagua, Chile

• $13

• Two thumbs way up

• Aromas of rich black cherry, dark chocolate with a pleasant earthiness. Flavors of black cherry, root beer and leather. Complex but approachable. Begs for grilled steak.

2006 Gascón Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina

• $12

• Two thumbs up

• Constantly changing aromas of cassis, black cherry, root beer, cola and vanilla. Smooth, pleasing flavors of black cherry, mocha and cola with a light jalapeno spiciness.

2005 Tamarí, Reserva Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina

• $13

• One Thumb Up

• Lovely aromas of mocha and dry cherry with pleasant floral quality. Tastes of mocha, red cherry and root beer. A simple wine with clean, pure flavors.