Take a chocolate-covered cherry candy, turn it somehow into a red wine, and you’d have malbec — maybe the world’s most user-friendly red wine.

The more inexpensive ones are soft and sweet, good starter reds for those who only drink white but want to expand their horizons and find a wine to go with a burger or steak. Malbecs are good with spicy barbecue because of their sweet fruit. Good with chicken, spaghetti with red sauce or even tuna because of their soft tannins.

The more powerful, somewhat more expensive malbecs have the big, ripe tannins to go well with grilled steak or chicken, even that holiday roast goose.

Highly recommended:

• 2008 Clos de los Siete Malbec Blend, Canton de Tunuyan, Mendoza, Argentina: powerful, smooth and aromatic, with aromas and flavors of black plums, spice and mocha, big, ripe tannins, long and smooth finish; $18.

• 2010 Bodega Elena de Mendoza Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina: deep purple hue, aromas and flavors of black raspberries and dark chocolate, soft tannins, very smooth; $11.

• 2008 Pulenta Estate Gran Malbec, by Paul Hobbs, Mendoza, Argentina: inky hue, hints of flowers and oak aroma, spicy black plum flavors, ripe tannins; $40.