Enduring Precision: The Latest Cellar-Worthy Wines from Argentina

BY JOAQUÍN HIDALGO | NOVEMBER 02, 2021

Precise management of high-altitude vineyards has resulted in new, attractive, balanced reds with excellent cellar potential that draw on Argentina’s long winemaking heritage. Some négociants from Bordeaux are already selling a few of them across the world, paving Argentina’s way into the fine wine market. In this report, I present an overview of the latest cellar-worthy wines.

When you keep a wine for a dozen years or more, you’re doing it in the hope that it’s not just gathering dust in the cellar. What you’re really looking for after years of patient expectation is to open something unique and unrepeatable: flavors that weren’t there before, the kind that can’t be achieved without significant aging time, and for the bottle’s relative scarcity to make it a treasure that ensures the wait was worthwhile.

Some regions across the world have plenty of evidence that their wines are excellent time travelers. Others still have to work on their potential. In the past, Argentina produced wines that aged well for a century. That happened before a shift in style flooded the market with jammy wines incapable of improving with time. Today, thanks in part to the appearance of new terroirs, wineries are back on track.

Three Major Trends

Argentina is producing more and more wines with aging potential. Before my New Releases report is published, it’s worth taking a moment to look at how high-quality wines with the capability to improve over time have changed in the country in recent years. I’ve identified three major trends.

The first began about thirty years ago when Mendoza wineries started to explore high altitude terroirs, resulting in freshness and intense flavor. Today, these forays have consolidated themselves into one of the most interesting scenes around. These unique, distinctive terroir-driven wines – you won’t find the same conditions anywhere else in the world – are now commanding prices that reflect their rarity.

The second trend is a change in style. Bottles from the 1970s and 1980s are rarely seen on the market. However, they tend to display a Bordeaux-influenced balance obtained by harvesting earlier in the year, when potential alcohol is around 12.5%, moderate extractions and plenty of time aging in the bottle to round out the rough edges. This refined combination is now seen again in bottlings from high-altitude vineyards. Here, those wines offer freshness and energy in harmony with good ripeness and elegant, terroir-based nuances.

The third is the inclusion of a few wines in négociant traders’ catalogues. For the first time in the history of La Place de Bordeaux, Argentine wines are being offered to collectors from across the world. Right now, at least five are available, but more are coming soon.

These new cellar-worthy wines from Argentina are made in a style that readers might want to explore. Producers, on the other hand, are proud to see their efforts being appreciated internationally, especially by high-end collectors.

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