Welcome back to our second part of discovering what South America has to offer, and today we focus on the country of Argentina!
With vines dating back to the 16th century and their recent success with the 80s and 90s plantings, Argentina is the 5th biggest wine producer. With 75% being made for Jug Wine, the other 25% are made up of varieties such as Moscatel, Cereza and Criolla Chica (Pais) and Criolla Grand. While Pais is notable grown in lower altitude areas, higher altitude regions were developed in the 80s as Nicholas Catena explored their potential.
The Andean Cordillera zone is a strip that runs from North to South between the Andes and the Inland Deserts and hosts the majority of vineyards in Argentina. Influenced by continental climates of hot summers and cold winters, southern regions are much cooler while the northern regions are planted higher to counter the increasing inland temperatures. In Mendoza and Salta, temperatures can drop as much as 20 degrees from day to night, and as a result, it locks in the acidity and produces a lovely ripe fruit that creates a unique balance.
Sandwiched between the Andes and the Desert, the normal weather is arid with the exception of rainfall during the growing season and sometimes hail, which helps protect developing grapes from ultraviolet sunburn. Flood irrigation using the water from the Andes has generally been the norm, but in recent times channel irrigation has been adopted where the water is directed down the vine rows instead of the whole vineyard. Drip irrigation is the preferred technique as a controlled measure of irrigation against the background rainfall can prevent grapes from diluting and bursting. Thanks to the dryness and the flood irrigation, fungal and rot problems, such as Phylloxera, aren’t of concern, especially as more vineyards are grafting their vines to resistant rootstocks.