Argentina has so much more to offer wine lovers than Mendoza Malbec. The team at London’s Argentine embassy, whose pale blue and white flag flutters over Belgrave Square, chose Discovering Hidden Gems as the theme for a wine tasting in November. The brief for participating UK wine importers was to pour ABM, anything but Malbec. After the event, I was as convinced of the quality of many of these non-Malbecs, many white, as I had been on various visits to Argentine wine country.
Catena Zapata, now run by Laura Catena, is arguably the leading producer of fine Argentine wine. But it was the two El Enemigo wines from Laura’s younger sister Adrianna Catena, made with Catena Zapata’s head winemaker Alejandro Vigil, that really caught my attention. A Sémillon and a Cabernet Franc, they proved how well these varieties can perform in Mendoza, Argentina’s prime wine-producing province. I’d already been impressed by examples of them at a tasting chez Tesco, where I was surprised to find such rarities.
Admittedly Sémillon is not widely planted in Argentina, or anywhere really except Sauternes, where it’s associated with sweet wines. But Argentina’s old Sémillon vines can yield gorgeous dry whites with depth and nuance. With one exception, my scores for the dozen dry Argentine Sémillons vary from 16.5 to 17.5, which is high praise. Mendel makes an outstanding example, from a vineyard originally planted in 1947 whose produce, before Mendel’s Roberto de la Mota rescued it, used to disappear into a sparkling wine blend.
Cabernet Franc, the signature red wine grape of the Loire Valley and the traditional partner of Merlot in St-Émilion, is increasingly respected in Argentina, even if it too is much less common than the dominant Malbec. The El Enemigo 2021 version is still young, with the oak a little obvious for now, but it shows the potential of the variety when grown in some of the higher subregions of Mendoza being developed, especially Gualtallary at almost 1,500m at the foothills of the Andes.
At the embassy tasting, Zuccardi’s Polígonos del Valle de Uco 2022 Cabernet Franc and Rutini’s 2017, both from Gualtallary, were especially distinguished. I’d previously tasted a captivating 2018 Gualtallary Cabernet Franc from Zorzal called Eggo Franco (which was aged in concrete eggs).
Another Bordeaux grape speciality that seems to do particularly well in Argentina is Petit Verdot. Until recent warmer summers in Bordeaux, it often struggled to ripen fully there but that’s rarely a problem in Argentina’s sunny, unpolluted atmosphere. Finca La Anita’s 2018 from the Agrelo subregion was seriously winning, as was Atamisque’s much younger 2024 from Tupungato.
I am also a fan of the second most widely planted red-wine vine after Malbec, called Bonarda in Argentina and Charbono in California, but there was only one in the embassy tasting, from Colomé in Salta province, well to the north of Mendoza. Bonarda makes juicy, fruity, very direct reds that are best drunk young.
The best Argentine Chardonnays can certainly hold their own. Catena Zapata in Mendoza, and Chacra in Rio Negro, which is way to the south in northern Patagonia, are especially accomplished producers. Corney & Barrow’s buyer has worked particularly hard at their South American selection. At the embassy showing, it included Marchiori & Barraud’s fine Chardonnay and Buscado Vivo o Muerto’s excellent Chardonnay-dominated field blend.
The country’s pink-skinned Criolla grapes, once scorned, are gaining traction but Argentina’s white wine speciality is Torrontés, a variety that, like Muscat, actually does smell grapey, though Torrontés often has a more floral quality as well as perceptible weight. It’s especially at home in Salta, source of two of the more exciting examples shown at the embassy, a very youthful, fresh 2024 from Colomé and Vallisto’s 2023, which could easily stand comparison with a fine Viognier.
This last was just one of the offerings from the importer with the widest and most unconventional range of wines at the embassy. Ucopia Wines is co-owned by Phil Crozier, who used to buy wine for the Gaucho restaurant chain and has been touring Argentine wine country for 25 years. He represented Wines of Argentina in the UK from 2018 to 2023.
Discussing the prospects for Argentine wine, he admitted that “while Malbec has been an almost unprecedented success, it is now becoming a bit of a millstone around Argentina’s neck because of Malbec fatigue, which begs the question: where next?”
Perhaps to my favourite wine from the Ucopia selection, an intriguing 2021 dry white blend called Ver Sacrum, Geisha Dragon del Desierto, if you please, partly aged under flor yeast. But Malbec will presumably continue to dominate Argentina’s much-needed wine exports for some time to come.
Argentine Malbec has proved to have much wider appeal than wines from its birthplace, Cahors in south-west France. But for years there was a certain sameness about the big, ripe Mendoza Malbecs that have constituted well over half of all Argentina’s wine exports. This is slowly changing as clones are matched to terroirs and vines are planted ever higher in cooler climes.
More and more Malbecs are labelled with a more specific appellation than just Mendoza. Such subregions as Gualtallary, Paraje Altamira, Los Chacayes and Vista Flores in the Uco Valley and Vistalba, Las Compuertas and Agrelo in the slightly lower Luján de Cuyo region are giving consumers a chance to identify geographical differences in their Malbecs.
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But Crozier is worried about a possible unintended consequence of the complex new UK duty regime based on alcoholic strength, arguing it will unfairly punish southern hemisphere wines due to higher alcohol levels. “Argentina should not change their direction because of this,” he wrote. “Recent years have seen a drop in alcohol levels from Argentina with the desire to express terroir much more. It would be a shame to lose that momentum if they went too far with early harvests and more winery intervention in reducing alcohol.”
Of course some drinkers enjoy Argentine reds precisely because of their relative potency. The great majority of the reds at the embassy tasting had either 14 or 14.5 per cent on the label, and Penedo Borges’ Selección de Parcelas Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 was 15 per cent.
Cabernet Sauvignon is the third most common red-wine vine in Argentina and there were three excellent examples at the embassy: Finca La Anita’s 2019 Agrelo, Marchiori & Barraud’s 2022 from gravelly Perdriel in Luján de Cuyo and that 15 per center, also from Agrelo. I’ve heard some fans describe wines like these as cheaper alternatives to full-blown Napa Cabernet.
That’s one quality of Argentine wine I have yet to mention. In an era of escalating wine prices, Argentina’s are relatively reasonable for the quality. An important and, unfortunately, increasingly unusual attribute.
Anything but Malbec
WHITES
Marchiori & Barraud Chardonnay 2023 Mendoza (14%)
£15.25 Corney & Barrow
Ver Sacrum, Geisha Dragon del Desierto 2021 Los Chacayes (12.5%)
£17 Corks of Bristol, £20.95 The Whisky Exchange
Penedo Borges, Prisma Gran Chardonnay 2021 Agrelo (14.5%)
£17.95 Mr Wheeler, From Vineyards Direct
El Enemigo Sémillon 2022 Uco Valley (13%)
£18 Tesco.com
Vallisto Torrontés 2023 Cafayate (13%)
£19.95 Wellbrook Wines, £21 Highbury, £22.10 Vino.com
Catena Zapata, Catena Alta Historic Rows Chardonnay 2021 Mendoza (13.5%)
£23 The Wine Society
Buscado Vivo o Muerto, El Límite Las Pareditas 2020 Uco Valley (12.5%)
£24.95 Corney & Barrow
Michelini i Mufatto, Certezas Sémillon 2021 Uco Valley (12.5%)
£39.30 Corney & Barrow
REDS
Penedo Borges Cabernet Franc 2020 Agrelo (14.5%)
£14.95 Mr Wheeler, From Vineyards Direct
Marchiori & Barraud Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 Mendoza (14.5%)
£15.25 Corney & Barrow
Decero, Remolinos Vineyard Mini Edición Cabernet Franc 2018 Agrelo (14.5%)
£26 VINVM
Weinert, Cavas de Weinert 2012 Mendoza (14.9%)
£55 a magnum The Wine Society
Tasting notes, scores and suggested drink dates on Purple Pages of JancisRobinson.com. International stockists on Wine-searcher.com
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