Zuccard’s Gualtallary vineyards offer breathtaking views of the landscape and snowcapped Andes range.PHOTO BY ZUCCARDI WINES
The annual Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) sets the global benchmark for excellence in wines. Judges drawn from an international cohort apply rigourous blind tasting, precise scoring, and calibrations that send clear signals to producers and consumers which are the wines that must be experienced. In 2025, Argentina achieved a landmark performance that crystallises two truths: quality advances across its regions, and its leading bodegas speak with focus and confidence. Decanter awarded 50 Best in Show, 137 Platinum, and 732 Gold medals across all countries, numbers that confirm a step change in elite quality at the competition as a whole. Within that panorama, Argentina secured two Best in Show, seven Platinum, and 37 Gold medals, its best top-tier haul to date. This result carries weight as it validates long-term viticultural decisions and careful oenology, while deepening interest from collectors, sommeliers, and travelling wine lovers.
Argentina’s viticulture boasts high altitude, sunlight, and diurnal range, where snowmelt from the majestic Andes mountain range feeds vineyards, while dry conditions promote vineyard health. The Uco Valley in Mendoza offers a mosaic of stony soils and high elevations. In Salta, as well as Jujuy, vines are pushed into rarefied air, where cool nights preserve aromatics and structure. Further south, Patagonia extends the map with luminosity and freshness. These landscapes reward patient farming: canopy management aimed at balance, irrigation that respects scarcity, and harvest calls that honour phenolic maturity rather than simple ripeness. The 2025 DWWA results highlight that approach with judges pointing to Argentina’s high-altitude story with clarity, a narrative that now resonates not only with specialists but with a broad audience of wine enthusiasts.
Producers couple place with precision, meticulous fruit selection, gentle extraction, judicious oak, and growing attention to soil vitality in order to lift quality across all styles of wines. The medal distribution confirms the country’s dominance among reds, with a smaller yet meaningful set of whites gaining recognition. Results like these encourage deeper exploration by travellers who want to taste altitude in the glass, then step into the very vineyards that shaped those flavours. Argentina’s 2025 laurels rest on the shoulders of specific bodegas that deliver consistent excellence and Decanter confirmed this by awarding two Best in Show medals to bodegas in Mendoza whose grapes are sourced from Gualtallary in Tupungato. The bodegas behind those awards stand as standard-bearers for the country’s high-altitude narrative as the judges noted Gualtallary’s emergence as a place now proving itself among the Southern Hemisphere’s leading sites for deep, perfumed, structured red wines. That assessment underscores a journey that began with sparkling base plantings decades ago, then evolved into a red wine powerhouse as growers and winemakers learned the contours of site, soil, and season. Beyond the top trophies, the awards presentations highlighted a broader roster of honoured producers across various categories.
The 2025 list highlights bodegas whose names resonate with quality seekers and trade professionals and in the first of a two-part series Thursday Food sought the help of Anetza Concierge, curators of bespoke South American wine experiences, in unveiling five of the year’s best from the southern continent’s wine bastion:
Bemberg Estate Wines Pionero is a red wine blend from Gualtallary that earned a platinum medal with a 97-point score and was named one of only two Best in Show awardees from Argentina at the 2025 DWWA. Made from a combination of grapes that include 54 per cent Malbec, 36 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 20 per cent Cabernet Franc, this wine is midnight black in colour, with ample refined aromatic warmth as well as a sense of fine-wine layering in its aromas. Cabernet Sauvignon provides the blackcurrant heart and firmness of the central structure, along with aromas of cedar and rocky minerals. The spicy fragrance of dried mountain herbs and green pepper of the Cabernet Franc bursts forth and intelligently integrates with the silkiness of the blackberries along with the floral power of the violets from the Malbec. On the palate, the wine is wealthy and ample, remaining profoundly aromatic with a creamy blackcurrant lift.
Rutini Single Vineyard Malbec is the second Best In Show awardee from the Gualtallary area of Mendoza, Argentina, which scored 97 points on its way to a platinum medal, that is made completely from Malbec grapes. Its colour is a very lively purple, with dense garnet highlights and its surprising aromas include intense floral notes (violet) as well as fruity notes (cherry, plum, blueberry). It is very full-bodied on the palate, where it displays a unique expression of both the Malbec variety and the terroir from which it comes. The red fruits and berries, as well as the spices (pepper, vanilla) are enhanced by the oak aging, which brings with it the typical accents of bitter cocoa and tobacco. In the aftertaste, a fleeting astringency and the accomplished acidity promise long aging potential.
Etchart Single Vineyard Malbec is a 97-point, platinum medal-winning 100 percent varietal made from grapes grown in Salta’s Cafayate region. Deep ruby red in colour, aromatic notes of red fruits stand out on the nose: plums and cherries, perfectly complementing the typical spices of the terroir. The palate is linear, with good and balanced acidity, with a texture that is pronounced and layered. This wine is an Archetypal high-altitude Malbec exuding all the classic hallmarks of red fruits underpinned by a lively herbal core. Snappy and energising, a spicy balsamic character saunters over the palate and conjoins with a stony mineral note to end.
Zuccardi Regiones Cabernet Franc also scored 97 points on its way to winning a platinum medal. This wine is a 100 per cent varietal and has aromas of bright cherry and blueberry fruit in addition to a lifted mountain-herb fragrance. Its acidity is nervy and its tannins are fine and harmonious, all culminating in a long refined finish.
Finca Flichman Microterroir Gravel & Stone Malbec originally from the vineyards of Don Fernando Vineyard, Tupungato Valle de Uco, is made from 100 per cent Malbec grapes which earned it a platinum medal and a 97-point score, a feat also achieved in 2024 when the wine was then named Best in Show. Deep ruby red in colour, this Malbec expresses a great intensity of aromas on the nose. In the mouth it is structured and complex due to the various layers of flavours. The result is an elegant wine with a great mid-palate, revealing flavours of ripe black fruit, sweet spices, and vibrant acidity as well as a finish that is fruity and persistent.
This set of wines, and the bodegas that made them, is a clear illustration of both depth and range. Mendoza leads with scale and diversity while Salta confirms high-altitude excellence in the far northwest. Awards matter because they compress complex tasting work into clear signals, and in the case of Argentina, the signal is clear: The country balances identity and innovation. Recognition at the DWWA turns heads, then it moves feet as enotourists use medals as a compass to guide them to the very best wine immersive experiences. Argentina’s 2025 achievements give travelers confidence to commit to longer stays, deeper tastings, and multi-region routes. Mendoza remains the natural base with its international air links, polished hospitality, and a concentration of celebrated bodegas.
The 2025 DWWA deliver a clear message: Argentina stands tall in a year of rising global quality, with bodegas that lead with character and grace. Travellers, buyers, sommeliers, and collectors can act with confidence knowing that the enotourism signal is consistent and strong, with an open invitation for you to experience a culture that pairs precision with welcome. Salud!
Signage at the Gualtallary Vineyards where Rutini grows its award-winning Malbec. (PHOTO BY RUTINI WINES)
Bemberg Pionero.
Finca Flichman Microterroir Gravel & Stone Malbec is a platinum medallist with a 97-point score. (PHOTO BY FINCA FLICHMAN)
Decanting wine separates sediments, exposes it to oxygen, releases its aromas and softens its tannins resulting in a smoother, more flavourful experience. (PHOTO BY ZUCCARDI WINES)
Finca Flichman Microterroir Gravel & Stone Malbec is a platinum medallist with a 97-point score. (PHOTO BY FINCA FLICHMAN)
Etchart Single Vineyard Malbec is a 97 point, platinum medal-winning wine from Salta. (PHOTO BY BODEGAS ETCHART)
Rutini’s Gualtallary Vineyards are postcard-perfect right before the harvest (PHOTO BY RUTINI WINES)
Zuccardi Regiones Cabernet Franc also scored 97 points on its way to winning a platinum medal. (PHOTO BY ZUCCARDI WINES)
The winery at finca Flichman is located in Barrancas, Maipú. (PHOTO BY FINCA FLICHMAN)
Bemberg Estate Wines has vineyards in Salta, Catamarca, San Juan & Mendoza.
Bemberg Estate Wines Pionero scored 97 points, earned a platinum medal and won Best In Show at the 2025 DWWA.
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