(WSJ) - Certain wines are so popular it's practically impossible to remember when they were not. Malbec, for example, was just another discarded French grape long before it became a staple of every wine shop in America—and a veritable synonym for Argentina. The success of Malbec is a story in two parts. The first took place in the mid-19th century, when Malbec was brought to Argentina from France. Little regarded at home, thanks to ongoing problems with mildew and rot, Malbec was nevertheless one of several vines selected by the French agronomist Michel Pouget to improve the quality of Argentine wines. At the time, most Argentine vineyards were planted with poor-quality hybrid grapes.