Alone among almost every other segment of the global wine market, Argentine Malbec has not only held it’s own, but prospered.

Shipments of Argentine malbec to the U.S. quintupled from 2005 to 2009, going from 628,000 cases to more than 3 million cases.

Part of the reason is quality versus price. Argentine malbec can be an excellent wine at $100 per bottle, but it can also be a perfectly fine wine at $10 per bottle… good news for wine drinkers in a down global economy.

Argentine malbec has also been helped by currency fluctuations. While European wine prices have been driven higher by a weak U.S. dollar compared to the Euro, Argentine wine prices are steady thanks to a weak Argentine peso compared to the dollar.

This makes inexpensive yet high-quality Argentine malbec a great value proposition for U.S. wine drinker.

A number of U.S. investors are actually getting into the Argentine wine business themselves in a number of ways. One of the most interesting investment opportunities actually allows U.S. investors to own homes set in vineyards in Argentina’s spectacular wine country and get a share of the annual wine production from the vineyard.