The high-elevation vineyards of the Uco Valley are turning out red wines that continue to redefine what we once knew from Argentina. Lighter reds, shaped by the cold and sunshine, showcase a stylistic renaissance in the glass.

The combination of newly planted terroirs and a renewed focus on white wine production has created a dynamic landscape in Argentina. As the first vintages of these wines age, they are starting to show all their potential for evolution. This report explores major trends and highlights especially noteworthy bottles from more than 400 tasted, encompassing White, Rosé and Sparkling categories.

The 2024 vintage, despite being one of the warmer ones, presents wines with distinct fruit flavors, vibrant colors and juicy freshness in its reds. While the exact reasons remain unclear, both barrel samples and winemaker reports suggest this trend. This report explores hypotheses to understand the uniqueness of the 2024 vintage.

The northern oasis of Mendoza is a large and diverse area that covers almost one-third of Argentina's wine production. However, in the foothills, known as the Primera Zona, the cool 2021 and 2022 vintages allowed for delicate balance and complexity in the wines. This report is a journey through the region and its styles, with some bottles brimming with the magic that made Malbec famous.

Wine consumers often mistakenly conflate Mendoza with Argentina—not an unreasonable error given that 70% of the country’s grapes grow in the province. But, when one tilts their glass toward the country’s other regions, perceptions can often be altered. Argentina’s varied whites and reds reflect the essence of a vast range of quite different landscapes. This report takes us on a journey through them.

The mountainous region in the center of the province of Mendoza has enjoyed a boom in investment and vineyard expansion in recent decades. It is now the home of some of the country’s most accomplished efforts to make wines with an authentic sense of place. Thanks to in-depth studies of local terroirs and an increasingly diverse range, the Uco Valley produces some of Argentina's most interesting wines.

A small revolution is taking place in the white wines of Argentina, particularly in the higher areas of the Uco Valley, on the cold, sunny slopes of the Mendozan Andes. In this report, I take a look at the best of the new wave of Argentine whites.

The 2023 season was uneven, marked by frosts, extreme heat and more unpredictable weather caused by the La Niña phenomenon. To succeed this year, producers had to throw out the playbook and improvise.

Luján de Cuyo is a historic region that is reinventing itself and looking to a terroir-based future. This report covers the relaunch of the first D.O.C. in South America, several new Malbecs and a handful of old vintages, exploring how a region with much to offer is making the most of its best qualities.

In an uncertain world, resilience and ingenuity have allowed Argentine producers to assemble a delicious patchwork of wines from the ends of the earth. This report shares the latest news from the terroirs of the Uco Valley, offers tips about some alternative varieties from the east of Mendoza, highlights up-and-coming regions to look out for and presents an in-depth look at a handful of new trends and styles, reflecting a scene as varied as it is alluring.

Argentina is enjoying a resurgence in white wines. After several decades in which the focus has been on reds, producers have been exploring new, creative territory based on bringing out the best of the country’s cool, continental sites. The result has been an explosion in new approaches, several of which have produced excellent wines, but others have not fared so well.

It is pretty unusual that in mid-April there aren’t many grapes left to harvest in Argentina, where winery doors typically close in early May. For better or worse, unusual weather makes for an unusual vintage. Overall, the 2022 harvest can be summed up as one of great quality. Bumps in the road could be overcome by good decision-making and precise timing.

From the Río Colorado to Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia spans the southern half of Argentina. The wine industry here has waxed and waned at different periods over the 20th and 21st centuries. One can find old vineyards planted in former riverbeds alongside brand-new vines growing right out on the steppe. With the historic allure of an ancient frontier, wines from these southern terroirs offer a range of different characteristics. Following three separate trips and 164 wines tasted in December 2021, this is my dispatch from the end of the world.

In this extensive report, I take a look at the current state of the wine scene in Argentina, a country where creativity is necessary for survival. Malbecs have grown increasingly diverse and reflect the range of terroirs, while a number of new trends are developing. From Cabernet Franc to Pinot Noir, high altitude vineyards are lending real energy and quality to a host of different reds.

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.

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.

Captivating. That’s the word for many of the white wines being produced in Argentina today. A new kind of Chardonnay is being crafted in the mountain vineyards of Argentina based on lively freshness and pure, ripe fruity flavors. The interpretations of these extreme terroirs being developed by an insightful group of producers are raising the bar for the variety in a country best known for its Malbec. Meanwhile, old Sémillon vines are being rediscovered in the more traditional regions and some excellent sparkling wines are popping up all over the country.

In the northwest of Argentina, there is a chain of magical valleys, weird and wonderful landscapes where the air at high altitude is so thin it can leave you gasping for breath. The endless deserts and ravines are, remarkably, producing wines of such extraordinary power that they rarely fail to seduce visitors to the area and connoisseurs much farther afield.

All serious drinkers collect wine. Some to commemorate significant moments, others, especially those with access to a cellar, because the vintages are of such quality that their value will accrue over time. Whatever the reason, it’s a significant and prestigious feather in the cap for a producer to make it onto a collector’s rack. No one would dare to question the merit of output from hallowed ground such as Pomerol or Barolo, and this is reflected in the wines' desirability and price tags. But what about other regions in the world? It’s often the case that collectors are skeptical about wines whose credentials seem to lack historical precedent. Generally, Argentina falls into this category although in many ways it is also a unique case unto itself.

Mendoza Malbec is synonymous with easygoing reliability. The enormous constituency of US consumers, which ranges from New Haven to Houston, Phoenix to Milwaukee, drank 82 million bottles of Argentine wine in 2019 and sees Malbec as something you can slip into like a comfortable pair of old slippers. For these fans, I have both good and bad news.

By the end of March 2020, almost every winery in Chile and Argentina had finished picking. Apart from a few small pockets, on both sides of the Andes the harvest was completed in record time. With ripening accelerated by a combination of climatic factors, and the looming threat of COVID-19 exerting pressure on work teams, we were presented with the unprecedented sight of bare vineyards at the end of March – generally not something you’d see until late April or early May.

In the spiritual homeland of Malbec, many of the most innovative new wines being produced today are white. One might be forgiven for thinking that winemakers are being deliberately contrary; however, over the past decade and a half, underneath wave after wave of reds, a revolution has been simmering away quietly. Chardonnays and Sémillons are now being produced that are every bit as good as some of the best Malbecs in the country.

In just the past couple of months, the novel coronavirus has profoundly changed the production and sale of wine around the globe. In this roundtable interview, 35 producers get specific about the challenges they are facing.

Until quite recently, one might have been forgiven for describing Argentina’s wine industry as a vast enterprise that made little distinction between different styles and terroirs. That is no longer the case. Producers in Argentina are going through their terroirs with a fine-tooth comb, hoping to discover outstanding sites that are capable of world-class wines.

Despite economic tumult, Argentina is making better wines today than ever before, thanks to a recent string of very good to outstanding vintages, increasing vineyard plantings in cooler, higher-altitude sites, and winemaking techniques designed to produce fresher, better-balanced wines with clear site character.