In Mendoza, bunches of Cabernet Franc grapes hang on vines, patiently awaiting their moment to be picked in late summer. In the distance, the Andes Mountains watch over the vines’ annual cycle— the range’ s jagged, snow-capped peaks like brushstrokes sharing a canvas with green vineyards and a cobalt sky. Argentina’ s modern winemaking story began in 1853, when Domingo Faustino Sarmiento( the former president of Argentina) tasked French agronomist Michel Aimé Pouget with creating a winegrowing industry in the country. Drawing on experience from his native Bordeaux, Pouget took a selection of cuttings with him, including Semillón, Chenin Blanc and Malbec. Argentina’ s signature red grape, Malbec was so underwhelming in France in those days that it was only used for blending. In Mendoza, however, the variety adapted to the mountain terroir with as much aplomb as the migrant descendants of the fourth- and fifth-generation winemaking families who crossed the Atlantic, often escaping war or poverty. A protagonist was born.
Italian and Spanish surnames mark the European connections— López, Zuccardi,
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Bosca, Catena, Durigutti— families that all have winemaking in their DNA. Their bodegas are dotted all around Mendoza, the province that produces three-quarters of all Argentine wine. Thanks to more than 320 sunny days a year, conditions are ideal for grape cultivation in this semi-arid, elevated desert watered by Andean snowmelt.
The Andean Mountain Range form the backbone of Argentina’ s notable terroir. In Mendoza, vineyards start at around 2,130 feet above sea level in the eastern department of Maipú, climbing up to 5,580 feet in the northern province of Salta and even higher— an eye-watering 8,860 feet— in Jujuy, a province that borders Bolivia.
Besides the fame of its Malbec, the world’ s fifth-largest wine producer also makes outstanding whites such as Torrontés, Chardonnay and Semillón, as well as other reds including Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Wine critics are extremely discerning, and rightly so, when it comes to awarding the top 100-point score for the perfect vintage, but in 2024, Zuccardi Valle de Uco’ s Finca Piedra Infinita Supercal 2021 and Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard’ s White Bones Chardonnay 2022 both achieved
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From left: Grapes from the Tunuyán Department in Mendoza Province; large wine barrels stacked on top of each other at Bodegas López in Maipú Previous pages: The view across an organic vineyard in Mendoza with the Andes Mountains in the background |
images: awl images |
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