Wines Like Malbec: Inky Underdog Reds to Try Instead

Malbec won the world over for good reason: it's dark, plush, and easy to love — deep purple in the glass, full of black plum and blueberry, with velvety tannins that go down smooth. The trouble with a crowd-pleaser is that it stops surprising you. If what you actually love is the experience — inky color, ripe dark fruit, a generous, rounded texture — three underdog grapes deliver it, and none of them will taste like the last bottle you had.

Here are three for the Malbec drinker.

Alicante Bouschet — the inky one

This is the one this whole site is built on, and it's the most natural Malbec swap there is. Alicante Bouschet is a teinturier — its flesh is red, not just its skin — so it makes some of the darkest, most saturated wines in existence: black-fruited, full-bodied, faintly savory, and deeply satisfying. If you love Malbec for sheer depth of color and plush dark fruit, this is where to start, especially the bottles from Portugal's Alentejo. Read the Alicante Bouschet deep dive →

Touriga Nacional — the structured one

Portugal's flagship red grape — long the backbone of Port, now increasingly bottled dry — gives you Malbec's dark fruit with an extra dimension of floral perfume and firmer structure. Think blackberry and violet over a savory, slightly grippy frame. It's the pick for the Malbec lover who's ready for a little more backbone. Read the Touriga Nacional deep dive →

Teroldego — the juicy one

If your favorite thing about Malbec is the juiciness — that mouthfilling rush of ripe dark fruit with soft tannins — Teroldego, from the Italian Alps' Trentino, is uncanny. Deeply colored, brimming with blueberry and blackberry, smooth and immediate, it drinks like a more elegant, high-altitude cousin of everything you like about a good Malbec. Read the Teroldego deep dive →

How to choose

Want the inkiest, most saturated pour? Alicante Bouschet. Want dark fruit with more structure and perfume? Touriga Nacional. Want pure juicy, smooth drinkability? Teroldego. Each one scratches the Malbec itch — deep color, ripe fruit, easy texture — while handing you a grape worth bragging about.

Just getting into the overlooked grapes? Start with the Underdog Starter List — ten bottles under $25 worth chasing. Or see the whole approach in Order This Instead.