Patagonia: A Dispatch from the End of the World 

BY JOAQUÍN HIDALGO | MARCH 10, 2022

Patagonia. Nine letters that have come to symbolize the final frontier. This region has always had a powerful and magnetic allure. Whether it’s the famous bandits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or the Pincheira brothers, the sailors who rounded Cape Horn and thus earned the rare privilege to retain their hats in the presence of the king, or explorers and naturalists such as Charles Darwin and Bruce Chatwin, scores of notable figures have found themselves inexorably drawn to this southwesterly corner of the world. The wine scene is no exception.

For Argentine producers, Patagonia also represents the final frontier. As far south as Lake Posadas (at 47º33’) one finds vines struggling to grow, testing the climate as global warming bites. Not so far from there, about 185 miles north in Sarmiento (45º 33’), we arrive at the last (or first) producing vineyard: 70 wind-shielded hectares on the shores of Lake Musters, where Bodega Otronia is bottling whites and sparkling wines of remarkable freshness that are now being exported to consumers all across the world.  

Latitude notwithstanding, Patagonia can also be broken down into a range of specific terroirs that include frozen steppes and deserts (where rainfall is less than 200mm a year), forested valleys, perennial glaciers (where rainfall can be over 1,000mm) or the plains (where the extreme western winds never let up).  Each imparts its own distinctive Patagonian character on wines that can be hard to reproduce on a larger scale. The distance between the most southerly vineyards and those planted at the northern end of the region is 680 miles – the same as that between San Diego and the Six River National Forest in California. Right now, the Patagonia Geographic Indication printed on labels refers to only irrigated valleys. These vineyards cover 3,730 hectares of land, of which 90% are concentrated where the Neuquén and the Limay rivers come together to form the Río Negro. 

Regardless of its size and regional differences, the two constants across Patagonia are the cool to moderately-cool climate and the risk of frost, meaning that the most prominent grapes are those with shorter ripening cycles. In Argentina, Pinot Noir accounts for just 1% overall of the hectares under vine; however, in Patagonia, that figure rises to 11%. And that’s precisely why the region ought to be on a wine drinker radar: to discover a new taste from Argentina. In addition to its natural beauty, Patagonia delivers a distinctive flavor profile that, depending on the producer and sub-region, has its high and low points.  

For this report, I travelled to Patagonia three times in 2021, which gives an idea of its size. I tasted about 164 wines down at the end of the world, of which Pinot Noir, Malbec and Merlot were the most successful. 

The alluvial soils of San Patricio del Chañar also contain calcium carbonate deposits and clay from the steppe.

Río Negro and Alto Valle del Río Negro

Known as the Nile of South America, Río Negro crosses the desert steppes along the 39th and 40th parallels from the forested slopes of the Andes to the Atlantic, splitting Argentina in two. Because of its length and volume, up until the early 20th century, the river formed a natural border between “civilization and barbarism” as Argentine intellectuals of the time were fond of saying. 

Similar to the Conquest of the West in the United States, between 1878 and 1885 the Argentine government waged the Desert Campaign: a military incursion into the region that effectively resulted in the extermination and expulsion of the indigenous peoples into the Andes, freeing up the land for agricultural outposts populated by European settlers. Once it was over, the waters of the Río Negro were channeled in 1910 and have since then irrigated the northern side, allowing agricultural use of the areas now known as Alto Valle and Valle Medio del Río Negro. Made-up of tree-lined canals and ditches crisscrossing the otherwise barren desert, this landscape is where fields of vegetables and orchards thrive, driving the growth and consolidation of the Province of Río Negro. 

There are two outcomes of this brief history that are of particular importance to the wine industry. Firstly, the settlers’ farms were generally small, about 10 hectares on average, resulting in a patchwork of agricultural towns along the river such as Cipolletti, General Roca, Fernández Oro and Mainqué. Secondly, it produced a stable population whose ancestors eventually outgrew the area’s production capacity. This meant that by the 1970s, viticulture in the region was in crisis. Unable to compete with Mendoza on cost, wine became a secondary concern. The number of wineries in the province fell from about 100, with 17,000 hectares of surface area under vine, to the present number of 20, producing out of 1,618 hectares of vineyards.

Glasses of Pinot Noir at a tasting with Secreto Patagónico. Tomás Groppo, who runs the winery, smiling in the background.

Almost all of the current wineries are the result of recent enterprises because investors realized the advantages the province had to offer: old vines with pre-phylloxera genes, no restrictions on irrigation and bargain property prices. Good examples of wineries founded in this century are Noemia and Chacra, run by the European winemakers Hans Vinding Diers and Piero Incisa della Rocchetta respectively. Others include Aniello, Del Río Elorza and Familia Miras, and the even more recent Araucana, all of which are located in the Alto Valle and are under Argentine ownership. These are small to mid-size operations (from 30,000lts up to 120,000lts). Out on the coast, Bodega Wapisa was set up by the Ortiz family who also owns the Tapiz winery in Mendoza.

The Establecimiento Humberto Canale is the exception here, as its history began in 1909. Still in the hands of the Barzi-Canale family, the fifth generation is planning for the future with 150 hectares of their own vines, a winery and about 600 orchards with their own packaging warehouse for export. The history of the Barzi-Canale family mirrors that of the region as a whole. Initially they produced wine for local, everyday consumption before expanding their supply to the market of Buenos Aires. Eventually they developed overseas exports, which has provided them with a steady income for decades.  

Alto Valle offers excellent conditions for winemaking: soils rich in lime and clay over a bed of fine gravel, rows of trees and orchards that provide protection from the steady western winds, abundant water for irrigation and an exceptionally healthy atmosphere. Producers here have started calling their production “River Wines”.  In this cool, dry climate, Malbec (365ha) tends to produce violet flavors; Merlot (253ha) turns out the dark fruit and spices for which it’s famous; Pinot Noir (128ha) focuses on those distinctive earth and mushroom notes. Overall, the clay tannins and ideal freshness are propitious for wines with good cellar potential. Among the whites, old vine Sémillon (36ha) is the star, followed by some excellent Chardonnays. Some of the best wines in this report come from Alto Valle.