Argentinian visionaries

(Drinks International) Think of Argentinian wine, and your nose anticipates the concentrated plum and cherry aromas of a joyful Malbec, tastebuds salivating at the umami sizzle of a medium-rare rib-eye, its perfect partner. Perhaps it’s barrel-aged Malbec from the elevated Cafayate Valley or Perdriel grapes freshened up with carbonic maceration. No matter the style, the branding of Argentina’s bountiful red is clearly the country’s biggest success story to date.
But that’s not all that we drink in Argentina – and we don’t just exist on
a protein-rich diet either. While Malbec is the ultimate crowd pleaser found on every carta de vinos, oenologists the length and breadth of the world’s biggest wine producer are driving forward changes that were unthinkable just 10 years ago.
There’s a huge thirst for whites, such as Semillón or Chardonnay and a fresher style of Torrontés, and in the search for diversity, breaking new ground in regions surpassing usual latitudinal boundaries both north and
south. A revival of pre-phylloxera and old vineyards is also underway, renewing both value and interest in underappreciated grapes such as the Criollas.
And of course, the global phenomenon of low intervention, pét-nat and skin contact wine is in full swing. Here are some of the trends hitting Argentina right now.
In the July 2022 edition of Drinks International.