2021 in Argentina: An Unusual Year That Ended in Balance

BY JOAQUÍN HIDALGO | AUGUST 17, 2021

The 2021 season in Argentina undermined the long-held idea that nothing much changes year by year. With higher than average rainfall and lower temperatures, those who interpreted the conditions well are celebrating a sublime equilibrium in their wines. Producers also reported substantial differences between the various regions up and down the Andes. Early indications are that 2021 was an excellent year for Cabernet Sauvignon, the best of the past eight, and for reds in general. 

The 2021 season in Argentina can be summed up as an unusual combination of notable rainfall and mild temperatures. As unlikely as it might sound in the land of sun-scorched vineyards, rain came at the perfect time. This, along with a mild summer, allowed the vines to develop gradually and continuously until the fruit achieved the kind of balance that winegrowers dream of, obtaining fresh red fruit flavors (among the reds) and juicy tannins elevated by precise acidity and moderate alcohol.   

Pinot Noir was one of the varieties to suffer during the 2021 season in Mendoza. However, these high altitude vines, under the watchful eye of Alejandro Sejanovich and his “manos negras”, are in perfect health.

A glance at the basic stats for temperatures and rainfall in 2021 shows that the year was far from the average. But what does “average” mean in a region whose real history is still being written in the shadow of climate change? Putting the vast regional differences in Argentina to the side, the traditional assumption that not many changes occur each year has been seriously undermined in recent seasons.   

From a drinker’s point of view, balance is the main achievement in 2021. “A great vintage,” said oenologist Gerald Gabillet at Cheval Des Andes. This year, several producers reported, French experience came very much in handy, specifically from Bordeaux. “Especially for the Cabernet Sauvignon,” said Fernando Buscema, Director of Caro, the winery owned by Baron Éric de Rothschild and Nicolás Catena in Mendoza, “because the higher humidity in February, with lower-than-average temperatures, prevented the vines from getting blocked, completing an ideal cycle.” 

Producers of Cabernet Sauvignon agree unanimously: 2021 had all the ingredients needed for the variety to have a great year, a combination not seen since 2013. The indicators are just as promising for Malbec, although that grape isn’t quite so dependent on each growing season. 

“It’s an excellent year for reds in general,” said Sergio Casé, oenologist at Bodega Trapiche. “But you needed to read the conditions well.” This was especially true in Mendoza, where 70% of the country’s wine is made. 

For producers in Patagonia, 2021 was a textbook year, notwithstanding frosts. This photo depicts the harvest at Noemia, whose vineyard dates back to 1932, where the spring frosts meant they had to work with second generation fruit.

The Climate in Mendoza

In Mendoza, the season began with a dry spring and sharp frosts during the budding period. In lower-lying areas (500–600 meters above sea level), a frost on October 5 saw cold fronts plunge to as low as  –5°C for several hours, damaging shoots that had already grown between 5cm and 10cm. Vineyards on hills where the cold air slips downward and in higher regions where the buds were still protected weren’t hit so hard. Given the rough start of the growing cycle, the expectation was for a low-volume harvest. By December, a drop of 30% in potential production was reported, but this wasn’t actually seen in the harvest baskets. The most plausible explanation for the anomaly came from Alejandro Belmonte, director of vineyards at Grupo Peñaflor: “We cross-referenced several productivity indexes for Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, and by January it was clear that the ratio between leaves and fruit was close to ideal. As the summer was relatively damp with cooler temperatures, the numbers ended up looking pretty good. According to the harvest report issued by Wines of Argentina, 2021 is within the average range for the last 10 harvests.

The 2020-2021 cycle was expected to be defined by the La Niña weather phenomenon. Growers anticipated a summer as dry as the spring, similar to the 2019-2020 growing season, but La Niña had weakened by December. Conditions normalized and the summer storms arrived on time at the end of January, with the rain continuing into February. Precipitations in some areas were double the historic average. “The outlook changed when the rain arrived. It was less intense but more frequent. This meant that by April 2021, accumulated rainfall was more than 400mm in some regions of the Uco Valley,” reported Luis Coita Civit, agricultural engineer at Durigutti Family Winemakers. By comparison, the average annual precipitation in the valley is 250mm.