Argentina: New Releases

The commoditization of Argentine Malbec, especially those from Mendoza, continues apace, as this category has become a hugely successful brand in the international wine market. While cut-throat competition and downward pressure on pricing pose a serious challenge to quality-conscious producers trying to make distinctive wines from reasonable crop levels in favored vineyard sites, these same factors are a boon to lovers of rich red wines.

Better yet, the cool, extended 2013 growing season produced unusually vibrant and refined wines in the semi-desert Mendoza region, which accounts for the lion’s share of Argentina’s finest red wines. So if you’ve been avoiding Argentine wines because you’re a long-term Euro drinker who associates blinding desert sunshine with dehydrated grape skins, cooked fruit aromas, high alcohol, low acidity and rustic tannins, now is the perfect moment to catch up on this amazingly rich category of wine.

Vineyards in Cafayate, Salta

Argentina is a Massive Wine Producer.

Argentina remains #4 in U.S. wine imports behind France, Italy and Australia. Much of this is bulk wine (mostly Malbec) purchased by giant U.S. wineries at dirt-cheap prices. Some of this juice goes into low-end labels but large quantities are also blended with California wine.

Our overall imports of bottled wines from Argentina were down slightly in 2014 (6% in total cases, 7% in dollar value). At the level of the wines that Vinous readers are more likely to purchase and enjoy, exports to the U.S. from the top ten Argentine producers (companies like Catena, Trapiche, Norton and Zuccardi) were essentially flat but these large players continued to increase their market share, to more than 50% in 2014. Meanwhile, the top ten U.S. distributors continue to augment their share of all wine sales in the U.S. The result of these factors has been ever-stiffer competition for producers at virtually every price point and growing market pressure on boutique wineries in Argentina, whose margins are also now under attack by the country’s galloping inflation.