Argentine Wine: It's Divine

If I found the food in Argentina to be underwhelming, I found the exact opposite to be true of the wine. I drank wine every single day, sometimes more than once, and each wine was better than the last. I never had even a mediocre wine in Argentina. Everything I tried was excellent, across all price points.

Argentina has recently become a major player on the worldwide fine wine stage, mainly for its Malbec. I've been familiar with the varietal for years (it's used mostly as a blending wine here in Napa Valley), but ever since knowing I was heading for Argentina, I did loads of "homework" and bought/ordered/consumed Malbec at every opportunity. Had to be prepared, right? When I got to Argentina, I learned even more. I discovered other Argentine varietals as well: their iconic white wine, Torrontés; their "other" red wine, Bonarda; their sparkling wines, and even Argentine-made familiar varietals like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.


A bit of history: Although Argentina's wines are relatively new on the international market, Argentina is no stranger to wine. The first vine cuttings were brought there by the Spanish in the 1500s, and production has never stopped. Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world, and Argentinians drink an average of 12 gallons of wine per capita annually. Most of the wine never left Argentina until fewer than eight years ago; 90 percent of it was sold and consumed in country. Their winemaking focus was quantity over quality. And then Argentina's great economic collapse of 2001/2002 came along. Their peso was devalued, which brought financial devastation in so many ways, but opened up affordable production costs for the wine industry (largely by foreign investors). Winemakers turned the traditional business model on its head and started focusing on high-quality, exportable wines. Tourism expanded simultaneously (it was now affordable for foreigners to visit Argentina), and wine-savvy tourists like myself started to flock to Mendoza. A perfect storm.






The opening spout of an old-style adobe wine cask, as big as a room, used to age and store wine back in the day (not so long ago!) when Argentina was focused on quantity as opposed to quality.