![]() And not much is operating smoothly in Argentina these days. You have less wine, so you can sell it for more on the international market.”īut for winemakers to do that, they have to be able to operate. “Winemakers are actually happy to have to produce less but sell their wine at a higher price,” said Erwin Henriquez, a consultant at Euromonitor International who studies the sector. That’s projected to drop some 19 percent to 170,000ha (420,000 acres) in 2027, according to estimates from the National Institute of Vitiviniculture. Today, about 211,000ha (520,000 acres) are used to grow grapes. ![]() Since 2014, the area devoted to wine grapes has dropped annually. Indeed, farmers are turning away from grapes and embracing higher-yielding agricultural crops that are more profitable, including walnuts and almonds. He’s more worried for younger winemakers and for the future of the region than he is for himself. “Imagine with inflation-it’s practically suicide.” Reginato and his family have been making highly rated sparkling wines in Mendoza for three decades. For that, we have Nicolas Catena Zapata, above all, to thank (see also WFW 65, pp.162–69). While they have been cultivated for drink for hundreds of years and, more recently, served local markets, it has only been in the past generation that Argentinian wine made it to the international table and, eventually, into the cellars of discerning collectors. Mendoza is Argentina’s primary winemaking region, an arid high plain where grapes grow in the shadow of the Andes Mountains. After all, it’s difficult to grow grapes in a desert. The country’s financial situation is wreaking havoc on almost every aspect of the winemaking process, global supply-chain issues are contributing to bottle bottlenecks, and climate change is forcing growers to make costly adjustments to their vineyards-if they have the wherewithal. ![]() Christiana Sciaudone reports.Ī rgentina’s economy is, for lack of a better word, a mess. This process extracted maximum colour and flavour yet kept the oak in check to make sure it complemented the wine and didn’t overpower it.The price of Malbec is rising fast, with rampant inflation only one part of a complex, multi-stranded story that has important consequences for lovers of Argentina’s signature wine. The grapes were hand picked of course, left on the lees for a full month with regular battonage, and underwent full malolactic fermentation before being tansferred to second fill French oak for 11 months. Fruit, power, oak, acidity all in balance. This is big and powerful in the typical Argentine style we have all come to love. Plus the Benmarco project has been in the hands of Edy del Popolo, making premium fruit driven wines. ![]() One of my favourite Susana Balbo wines, along with Expessivo and Nosotros of course! The secret to this excellent Malbec is the fruit is all from Vista Flores in the Uco Valley, regarded as the best vineyard site in all Argentina. This is something special and they brought out a new label for the 2019 to stop the confusion! This the Susana Balbo Benmarco Malbec 2019 from the Uco Valley – please don’t confuse it with the cheaper lower quality offering on sale with other retailers, they are completely different wines. Tim Atkin 92 points James Suckling 93 points Wine Advocate 92 points Tim Atkin just scored it 95 points in his 2017 report. El Porvenir is regarded as the highest quality winery in the world, and they make one of the best Malbecs in all Argentina in my opinion. In the far north you have the moon like landscape of Salta where the minerals lend the wines certain qualities and the strong sunshine gives the grapes amazing sugar levels – the wines from El Porvenir de Los Andes are just superb. In the south you have Patagonia – still at high altitude by most regions’s standards but there are lower lying vineyards here in lush fertile valleys, where the clean air and icewater melt help produce wines of great individuality such as those from Aniello. Many great producers are based in Mendoza such as Susana Balbo’s Dominio del Plata, Benegas Lynch, Mauricio Lorca and Tapiz, with tiny artisan producers in the Uco Valley such as Atamisque making tiny production handcrafted wines. Mendoza is by far the largest production area, producing some excellent wines with truly outstanding ones coming from the specific higher altitude valleys such as Vista Flores or Tupungato in the Uco Valley. Argenitna is blessed with a fantastic and consistent climate, so these new wineries were able to identify specific sites to get the very best from their new plantings. Like many new world wine regions, Argentina has undergone a renaissance in winemaking with many boutique wineries emerging over the last decade or so. Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world and top Argentinian red wine is right up there with the best from the old world.
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