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In honour of World Malbec Day today, our wine guru Henry Jeffreys has been pondering Anglo-Argentine relations…

I think any animosity from the Argies towards us British can be explained because they feel rejected by us. No country outside the Empire was as pro-British as Argentina. You only have to look at the enthusiasm with which they took up our sports: rugby, polo and football where the clubs still bear English names such as River Plate and Racing Club. The Argentine middles classes sent their children to bilingual schools modelled on Eton. Even today the most enthusiastic wearers of Le Style Anglais, tweed, brogues etc are Argentine visitors to London. They looked up to us as a surrogate father but the affection was not reciprocated. This led to a festering bitterness that found an outlet in their demands for the Falkland Islands. So this 17^th of April please raise a glass of Malbec to reconciliation, and remember Basil Fawlty’s timeless advice: don’t mention the war!

Cahors, Clos Triguedina Petit Clos, 2009 (£8.50 The Wine Society)

If like my father you’re boycotting Argentina, you could always go to Cahors in France, the home of Malbec. This one reminds me of a particularly firm claret like a St. Estephe.

Weinert Carrascal 2007 (£7.50 The Wine Society)

This Malbec blend encapsulates the Argentine longing for the Old World. It’s aged in old barrels and has more in common with traditional Rioja than the sort of glossy Malbecs more commonly available. I love it.

Gimenez Riili Malbec Perpetuum 2011 (£13.75 Prohibition Wines)

Good clean modern Malbec with lots of fragrance and not too much tannic pain for your teeth.

Mairena Bonarda 2010 (£13.60 Prohibition Wines)

There’s more to Argentina than Malbec. This grape variety originally from Italy provides a distinctively Italian bitterness to counterpoint its lush South American fruit.

Henry Jeffreys writes a weekly column about wine for The Lady magazine and blogs at worldofbooze.wordpress.com