Snacks to pair with malbec

Malbec - born in France, made famous by Argentina. If you’re pouring out a great malbec and need some snack suggestions, we’ve got you covered. Here’s five that’ll go down a treat.

Roasted chickpeas

A light snack for a full-bodied wine, roasted chickpeas have that spiced savouriness that’s going to match the savoury-spiced oak notes of malbec to a tee. Plus, the salt of the seasoning is going to lift those dark fruits and bring a humming vibrancy to every sip. A great one for when you don’t want to fill up over a post-work glass (or two).

Hard cheeses

Malbec's high tannin and acidity make it an excellent pairing with hard, aged cheeses like manchego or an aged cheddar. Those nutty and salty flavours of the cheese are perfectly contrasted by the dark fruits of malbec, and the bold, full-bodied robustness of the wine can handle the structure and richness of an aged cheese.

Beef jerky

Malbec's bold tannins and acidity loves to spar with some peppered beef jerky - after all, it’s great with steak, so it makes sense that it would be perfect with steak’s smaller format too. That dark fruit, spice and tannin in a pour of malbec wraps around each moreish mouthful, and you’ll be swearing you didn’t mean to finish the packet (and maybe the bottle, too) before you know it.

Empanadas

Popular as a street snack in South America, it makes sense they pair well with malbec. The savoury filling encased in pastry will bring out the sweetness of malbec’s juicy dark fruits, the acidity in the wine handling any richness. Malbec’s smoky and spicy oak notes also match up well with any smoky-spiced seasoning in the empanada too. Ps. malbec is also great with good old party pies, if you’re thinking closer to home.

Dark chocolate-covered fruit

Just like with dark chocolate (and we’re talking dark dark, like 85%), malbec pairs well with dark chocolate-covered darker fruits like raspberries or blackberries. The tannin of the chocolate and the wine will match against each other, with the chocolate also helping to offset any sweetness of the fruit so that it’s not counterbalancing the wine; the wine itself is going to bring that body and spice to deliver a richer mouthful with every sip. Perfect for an evening with the lights set low, a real indulgence. Treat yourself.

As always though - you know you best, and what suits your palate. The joy is always in the discovery, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

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