2021 y 2022 dan el Tono a los Tintos Clásicos de Mendoza

2021 and 2022 Set the Tone for the Classic Reds of Mendoza

BY JOAQUÍN HIDALGO | MAY 30, 2024

Fresh fruit, precisely calibrated. This is a fair summary of the 2021 and 2022 vintages in the traditional heart of Mendoza, Argentina. The secret lies in climatic conditions rarely seen since 2017, which brought cooler weather to a region that generally sits on the warmer side, resulting in a more delicate wine style.

The spare soils on the first terrace of the Mendoza River in Las Compuertas are composed of gravel and rounded stones typical of a riverbed. Here, the red wines present skeletal profiles and notes of ripe fruit.

I’ll return to the vintages later. First, a little context is required. Mendoza has a great many vineyards. I’ve already written recent reports on the wines of the Uco Valley and the south of the province. It’s time to turn our attention to the northern and eastern oases. These rather pragmatic designations encompass around 87,000 hectares of vineyard that take all manner of forms: some are planted in very hot areas, others enjoy ideal soils and more reasonable temperatures, some vines are old and some young, some are grown for quantity and others quality, and of course, every producer interprets their given conditions in their way.  

This brief report features just over 300 wines from the area; the disconnect between the scale and the number of bottles reviewed is easily resolved. The productive heart of Mendoza, known as the East, is a plain stretching a hundred miles into the desert that produces most of the modestly priced wines consumed in the country. However, the Andean foothills to the west have different conditions. Most of the wines in the report come from the latter area.  

It’s called Primera Zona (The First Zone), a name that refers to the first-ever installment of irrigation ditches rather than claiming qualitative primacy. Primera Zona includes the departments of Luján de Cuyo and Maipú, whose wines account for most of the report. This area produced the grapes for the wines that became popular on the international market in the 1990s. It is also the region that has lost the greatest acreage of old vineyards in recent times, eaten up by urban expansion.  

Against the background of these two dynamics – the drive for quality and the resistance against further encroachment – this report highlights the most interesting labels that Primera Zona has to offer from its 26,000 hectares under vine. Set to the south of Mendoza City, it also has the greatest concentration of wineries in Argentina. It makes for an easy getaway: you can visit many different houses within a brief distance, although many use grapes from all over the province.  

Now that I’ve laid the groundwork, let’s return to the vintages. Two thousand twenty-one and 2022 saw relatively low temperatures across the region. This means that in terroirs set between 2,300 and 3,900 feet above sea level, the harvest windows went on for longer than usual, and producers took full advantage. Both vintages left their well-defined mark on the wines. The results are compelling. Among the Malbecs, the freshness has brought subtle flavors of red and dark fruit as well as floral aromas, with mild palates and polished tannins.

Today, excellent examples of Malbecs are from the Luján de Cuyo D.O.C., the first-ever Denomination of Origin established in Argentina (and South America). Since 2021, the regulations have allowed for differentiation by district – broadening the criteria of the game and facilitating the recognition of each distinctive character – and several in this report stand out with their subtle flavors. Because this is a D.O.C. run by its members, the styles tend to be tailored to the taste of each and/or reflect their district, with the fresh fruitiness and plush tannins present in most and enhanced by a range of subtly varied qualities. Assessed together, they give a good idea of these terroirs' full scope.

Beyond the D.O.C., the differences between the places of origin are quite perceptible in the wines they produce. The common thread, however, is the Mendoza River. Having sculpted the local soils for millennia, its course essentially defines the potential of each region.

Perdriel is located on the southern bank of the Mendoza River. The channel running to the right separates it from Las Compuertas in the background, nestled in the Andean foothills.