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Vintages Feature Story

Argentina and Chile are dramatically different wine-producing countries, but when it comes to value and quality, it’s hard not to think of them in the same breath. As different as they are, they’re influenced by many of the same factors. Winemakers in both countries are pushing boundaries, taking advantage of their unique situations and moving higher into the foothills of the Andes in search of ever-greater purity and provenance.


Breaking new ground

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Innovative winemakers like Santa Rita’s Sebastián Labbé never tire of probing into every nook and cranny of their land, seeking opportunities for new expressions. These inquiries can encompass a new region, a single vineyard, or even a single block, but they’re the lifeblood of a thriving, evolving vinicultural identity. The Tiny Blocks range from Calcu is sourced from 166 different microplots on a site in the Coastal Range in Marchigüe in Chile’s Colchagua Valley. Plantings of each grape variety are carefully selected to allow the fruit to exploit the differing aspects, altitudes and complex geology of the vineyard and maximize their potential.

Salta, which is Argentina’s most northerly region, is rugged, remote, and difficult to access. Most vineyards are planted more than 1.5 kilometres above sea level and some reach three kilometres elevation. In these extreme conditions that push winemaking to the limits, single-vineyard wines such as the Bodega El Porvenir de Cafayate Laborum Finca El Retiro Torrontés provide even greater elucidation of this dynamic region’s potential. In contrast, Patagonia, which is Argentina’s southernmost region, is a flat, stony desert. Unlike other places where altitude is the key factor in moderating temperatures, here the influence of cold Antarctic waters provides the conditions to make this the country’s coolest growing area. It’s an ideal place for crafting finessed, bright, characterful Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, but it’s the emergence of the region’s Pinot Noir that is causing the most excitement.


Code green

Sustainability has become an integral aspect of modern winemaking. A sustainable approach in the vineyard covers soil management, pest and weed control, use of fertilizers and other chemical products, responsible water usage, and social impact. In South America, 2010 was a big year; Chile’s Sustainability Code was launched and Argentina created its Bodegas de Argentina Sustainability Commission. But many wineries were well ahead of the curve. Argentina’s Alpamanta, founded in 2005, was certified organic and biodynamic by Demeter from day one. Chile’s iconic Montes has been using integrated pest and disease management since 2000.

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Mendoza’s Finca Decero is a founding member of the Porto Protocol: a network of wine industry professionals committed to providing assistance and information to winemakers on combating climate change. As well as following sustainable practices, the boutique Maturana Winery has committed to preserving the cultural legacy of Chilean wine. They seek out and protect historical grapes such as País, Torontel, Semillon and San Francisco, encouraging and supporting small producers in order to maintain these plantings (which are often more than a century old) rather than see them uprooted for newer, better-known varieties.


Women in wine: Trailblazers

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Dr. Laura Catena
can list many accomplishments across her storied career, but the role she played in the massive international success of Argentine Malbec must be one of the greatest. In the early 1980s, her famous father, Nicolás, the pioneer of fine wine in Argentina, favoured Cabernet Sauvignon, but Laura’s determined efforts helped convince him of Malbec’s potential, and history was made.




Zuccardi is one of Argentina’s most recognizable and important producers, and Laura Principiano has played no small part in its continued success. Along with her role as winemaker, she leads the winery’s research and development lab and has been instrumental in defining Zuccardi’s signature style.

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Cold-climate specialist Viviana Navarrete has been the chief winemaker at Viña Leyda since 2007. Her recent accomplishments include being named Tim Atkin’s 2020 Winemaker of the Year and the 2022 Best Winemaker of the Year from Descorchados. But it’s her social sustainability wine project, Tayú, that is having the greatest impact. Begun in 2018, this special Pinot Noir project is the first collaborative wine and vineyard-ownership program with Chile’s indigenous peoples, the Mapuche.





Susana Balbo
was Argentina’s first woman winemaker, earning her oenology degree in 1981. She began her career at the Michel Torino winery in Cafayate, Salta, where she helped develop their understanding of Torrontés and establish the grape as the iconic Argentine white.

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Notable native grapes at a glance

Chile’s varied soils and growing conditions provide a vast range of Carmenère styles. When grown in coastal areas, the grape can produce structured, spicy, fresh wines, while warmer central plantings render full-bodied, luscious wines with rich black fruit. When sourced from vines grown in the foothills of the Andes, Carmenère generates appealing, complex savoury and smoky characteristics. Criolla is an umbrella term for a large family of grapes found across South America, including Argentina’s Torrontés and Chile’s País. Criolla Grande is a red variety found primarily in Mendoza, where more than 60 different varieties of the grape are planted. It’s a lighter red that has drawn comparisons to Gamay and Pinot Noir.

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Bonarda first appeared in Argentina in the 19th century, and the country has many old-vine plantings. Virtually unique to Argentina, it was originally prized for its usefulness in adding colour and fruitiness to blends, but site-specificity and care in the vineyard have shown it capable of creating profound single-varietal wines, especially when made with fruit from older vines. When you’re looking for value while still trying to make an impression, Argentine traditional-method sparklers are always a good bet. La Mascota Blanc de Noir Sparkling is a characterful example, exuding refinement and a tremendous sense of presence.


More great grapes: The international influence

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Chilean Cabernet, with its winning food-friendly disposition and notes of cassis, blackcurrant, earth, savoury herbs, lifted mint and fine mineral, has a long, rich history. Some of the world’s oldest ungrafted pre-phylloxera plantings can be found here. The vines in Miguel Torres’s Manso Vineyard, for example, are more than 118 years old. High-altitude plantings in Argentina’s Uco Valley are perfect for producing racy, intensely flavoured and dynamic Chardonnay, and many of the best examples (and their price points) are making Burgundy fans take note. Pinot Noir does very well in Chile’s ocean- influenced coastal regions, and places like the Leyda Valley encourage the high levels of acidity necessary to create truly magnificent sparkling wines such as the Undurraga Pinot Noir Brut Rosé Sparkling.


Women in wine: Insider insights

Based in Argentina since 2009, Amanda Barnes has established herself as a leading voice of South American wine. Her South America Wine Guide, published in 2021, was awarded the John Avery Award, the Gourmand Award for Best World Wine Book, and Fortnum & Mason’s Debut Drink Book of the Year.

“In the last decade or so we’ve seen so many more women enter into the roles of winemaker, technician, agronomist,” says Barnes. “The ceiling was broken by people like Susana Balbo in Argentina, and María Luz Marin in Chile … There’s an increasing openness and respect for women in the industry. It used to be entirely a boy’s club; it isn’t anymore.”

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Amanda herself is playing a role in this evolution. She’s working on her Masters of Wine thesis on Criolla grapes which, when completed, will make her the first-ever South American-based MW.

“It’s a very exciting time in South America. There’s this incredible sense of discovering new things. In Chile, winemakers are looking for new physical boundaries, going closer to the coast, higher in the mountains, further south, further north. In Argentina ... their focus has been on microzoning and exploring the nuances of the terroir they’re already based in. Trying different soils, exposure, altitudes, discovering that patchwork of differences that you can beautifully show through wine.”


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