Argentina, South America’s oldest and largest wine producing country, has always cherished its products, and consumed much of what was produced. Once the most affluent South American county, Argentina’s population more than 90 litres of wine per captain, albeit quality was never close to European standards, but prices were low.

This large and agriculturally well-developed country experienced many economic and political upheavals. Wine quality suffered, prices were low ad exports negligible except eastern block countries i.e U S S R, Poland, and Czechoslovakia,
Spaniards found no vine in South America, unlike Eric the Red in the eastern shores of North America. Conquistadors being urged by the clergy, imported vines in 1532 and planted vineyards on the Atlantic Coast. The damp climate proved to be inhospitable for grapes and vines failed to thrive.

Later in 1550 vines were imported from Peru to Mendoza, but the largest imports occurred six years later, this time from Chile, on the other side of the Andean Mountain chain. The most important grape variety was criolla chica, a.k.a pais in Chile and mission in California. It remained the most popular in Argentina for three centuries.

Today Argentina has approximately 223,000 hectares under vines and plantings are increasing at a rate of approximately 5000 hectares per annum.

Salta (latitude 25 South), La Rioja (30 S), San Juan (32 S), Mendoza (33 S), Rio Negro (40 S), Littoral (35 S), and Entre Rios (31 S) are the main and well-defined regions.

Mendoza provides 75 per cent of the production and 90 per cent of exports, which are increasing exponentially due to their quality and low prices.

High altitude Uco Valley in Mendoza has become the most sought vineyard land due to its suitable soil and climate.

Malbec and Mendoza are Argentina’s strong wine cards. This grape variety originally form Bordeaux thrives on Mendoza’s terroir and yields extraordinarily flavourful and powerful but balanced wines.

A variety of vitis vinifera vines thrive including malbec, syrah, bonarda (from Emilia Romagna, Italy), merlot, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, tempranillo, for red and torronted Riojana, pinot gris, chardonnay, riesling and gewürztraminer for whites.
Torrontes with its floral and inimitable aromas appeal to millions of young wine drinkers but most be consumed within a year of harvest to enjoy it at its best.
In the past Argentina exported little and mostly bulk wine in tanker loads, as internal consumption was high enough to absorb of much that was produced.

In the past 20 years enlightened winery owners realized that quality and not quantity was the most important ingredient to succeed. They invested in research for suitable locations, imported modern equipment and most importantly sent winemakers to the U S A , Spain, Italy, and Germany to further their education and learn new techniques.

Exports to the U S A, Canada, the United Kingdom, European countries, Japana and China have increased substantially. (UK 42 per cent, U S A 15 per cent, Brazil 48).
The following wineries are recognized for their high quality products: Achaval-Ferrer, Finca Sophenia, Cheval des Andes, Catena Zapata, Monteviejo, Bodega Francois Lurton, Bodegas y Vinedos Pasqual Toso, Eral Bravo, Mauricio Lorca, Mendel, Bodegas Norton, O’Fournier, Finca Flichman, La Riojana, Altavista, Pulenta Estate, J A Zuccardi, Finca y Bodega Vistalba, Salentin, Nieto Senetiner, David Michel Torino, and Valentin Bianchi.

During a recent tasting the following wines stood out:

Malbec 2004 Tikal Amorio
Malbec, 2006, Don David Michel Torino
Malbec Reserva, 2000, Bodegas Norton
Codus, 2000, Nieto Senetiner
Malbec, 2004, Achaval Ferrer
Quimera, 2004, Achaval Ferrer
Nicolas Catena Zapata Cabernet/Merlot, 2004, Bodegas Catena Zapata
Gernot Lauges Malbec/Cabernet, 2003, Bodegas Norton
Synthesis, 2005, Finca Sophenia
Piedra Negra Malbec Gran Reserva 2004, Bodega F Lurton

The L C B O’s general list offers a small selection of Argentina wines, but the Vintages division releases contain several, excellent wines.
You can obtain Vintages bi-monthly release catalogues for free by calling L C B O or on-line lcbo.com

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Tags: Argentine, Wine

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 06:00 and is filed under Food & Wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.