Mendoza Province Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic o ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

's most important

wine region This list of wine-producing regions catalogues significant growing regions where vineyards are planted. Wine grapes mostly grow between the 30th and the 50th degree of latitude, in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Grapes will sometimes ...

, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the country's entire wine production. Located in the eastern foothills of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

, in the shadow of

Aconcagua Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in the Southern Hemisphere with a summi ...

, vineyards are planted at some of the highest altitudes in the world, with the average site located above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. The principal wine producing areas fall into two main departments- Maipú and Luján, which includes Argentina's first delineated

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

established in 1993 in

Luján de Cuyo Luján de Cuyo is the district capital of the Luján de Cuyo Department located in the west of the Mendoza Province of Argentina. It forms part of the Greater Mendoza metropolitan area. Wine It was the first delineated appellation An appella ...

. The pink-skinned grapes of

Criolla Grande Criolla Grande (also known as Criolla and Criolla Grande Sanjuanina) is a red wine grape commonly found in Argentina. It is different from the Chilean wine grape Pais, also known as ''Criolla Chica'', but ampelographers believe that both grapes s ...

and

Cereza Cereza (Spanish for "cherry") is a white Argentine wine grape variety. Like Gewürztraminer and Pinot gris, Cereza is a pink skinned variety.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition pg 101 Abbeville Press 2003 J. Robinson ''Jan ...

account for more than a quarter of all plantings but

Malbec Malbec () is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. In France, plantations of Malbec are n ...

is the region's most important planting, followed closely by Cabernet Sauvignon,

Tempranillo Tempranillo (also known as Ull de Llebre, Cencibel, Tinto Fino and Tinta del Pais in Spain, Aragonez or Tinta Roriz in Portugal, and several other synonyms elsewhere) is a black grape variety widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its ...

and Chardonnay. J. Robinson (ed.) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'', third edition, pp. 29–33, Oxford University Press, 2006 Mendoza is considered the heart of the

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

industry in Argentina with the vast majority of large wineries located in the provincial capital of Mendoza.A. Domine (ed.) ''Wine'', pp. 840–844, Ullmann Publishing, 2008

History

The region of Mendoza, or historically Cuyo, experienced an unprecedented wine-boom in the 19th century and early 20th century which turned it into the fifth largest wine growing area of the world and the first in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

.La vid y el vino en América del Sur: el desplazamiento de los polos vitivinícolas (siglos XVI al XX)
/ref> The establishment of the Buenos Aires-Mendoza railroad in 1885 ended the lengthy and costly trade with carts that connected these two regions of Argentina and sparked development of vineyards in Mendoza. Furthermore, massive immigration to

Río de La Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

mainly from

Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alba ...

increased demand and brought know-how to the old-fashioned Argentine wine industry. The vineyards of Mendoza totalled 1,000 ha in 1830 but grew to 45,000 in 1910, surpassing Chile which had during the 19th century a larger area planted with vines and a more modern industry. By 1910 around 80 percent of the area of Argentine vineyards were planted with French stock, mainly ''

''.

Climate and geography

Located in the far western expanse of Argentina, the

Climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

of Mendoza is

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' ( ...

with

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...

desert conditions. There are four distinct

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

throughout the year, without any real temperature extremes. This provides a very stable growing cycle for the vines without any major events such as winter dormancy. The main concern for winemakers regarding the climate is the hail during the summer months which is known to locals as La Piedra. The soil of the Mendoza wine region is primarily

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...

composed of loose

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

over

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

. Mountain rivers, including the Desaguadero, Mendoza,

Tunuyán Tunuyán is a city in the west of the province of Mendoza, Argentina, located on the western shore of the Tunuyán River, south from the provincial capital Mendoza and east of the Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a cou ...

Diamante A diamanté (also spelled diamante) is a glittering ornament, such as an artificial jewel (e.g. a rhinestone) or a sequin. Diamante may also refer to: Places Argentina * Diamante, Entre Ríos, a ''municipio'' in Diamante Department * Diamante ...

and the

Atuel River The Atuel River is a river located mainly in the south of the Argentine province of Mendoza, with its last part in La Pampa. It is a tributary of the Desaguadero River. The Atuel is the longest river in Mendoza. It is born in the Andes range, a ...

s, provide ample water supplies from melted glaciers in the Andes. Nearly 17,000

borehole A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petrol ...

s are scattered throughout the region, providing the equivalent of an additional two rivers' worth of water flow to the area. A system of irrigation channels, canals and reservoirs (some dating to the 16th century) help sustain viticulture in this semi-arid desert region.

Wine producing areas

As of 2008, the Mendoza region contained more than 356,000 acres (144,000 hectares) of planted vineyards-producing nearly two-thirds of the entire Argentine wine production. The principal wine producing areas fall into two main departments – Maipú and Luján, which includes Argentina's first delineated appellation established in 1993 in

. With vineyards planted at altitudes between , the Luján de Cuyo region is known particular for its Malbec which seems to thrive in this region as a

mean There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

annual temperature of . Historically the San Rafael region to the south and San Martín region to the east of the city of Mendoza were important centers for wine production. San Rafael was also awarded DOC status in 1993. V. Lombardi (author) International Sommelier Guild; December 2002
However the switch to premium wine production of

international varieties An international variety is a grape variety that is widely planted in most of the major wine producing regions and has widespread appeal and consumer recognition. These are grapes that are highly likely to appear on wine labels as varietal wines a ...

has diminished their importance. One area of emerging importance in the Mendoza wine region is the Valle de Uco which includes the

Tupungato Department Tupungato is a department located in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. The cabecera (departmental capital), Tupungato, is located approximately south of Mendoza city, in the Valle de Uco. Its name comes from the Tupungato volcano (at 6,57 ...

featuring vineyards planted nearly above sea levels and is emerging as a source for premium quality white wine varietals such as Chardonnay. In the Luján department, areas that may appear on

wine labels Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. The label is often the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it. Certain information is ordinarily inclu ...

include the towns of Anchoris, Agrelo, Carrodilla, Chacras de Coria, Las Compuertas, Mayor Drummond, Perdriel, Tres Esquinas, Ugarteche and Vistalba. In the Maipú department, areas that may appear on wine labels include the towns of Maipú, Coquimbito, Cruz de Piedra, Las Barrancas, Lunlunta and Russell. Argentina's most highly rated Malbec wines originate from Mendoza's high altitude wine regions of Lujan de Cuyo and the Uco Valley. These Districts are located in the foothills of the Andes mountains between elevation.WINE TOURS: Argentina - Mendoza
, "Fly Fishing Patagonia"Wine Tip: Malbec Madness
"Wine Spectator", April 12, 2010 The subject of elevation is of much interest to the wine world because with increased altitude, the intensity of the sunlight increases. The role of this increased light intensity is currently being investigated by Bodega Catena Zapata's research and development department headed up by

Laura Catena Laura Catena (born 1967) is a fourth generation Argentines, Argentine Argentina wine, vintner, physician and author. Biography Laura Catena was born in Mendoza, Argentina in 1967. She graduated ''magna cum laude'' in Biology from Harvard Univers ...

, Alejandro Vigil and Fernando Buscema.Visiting Mendoza, Argentina
Wineanork"

Grape varieties

The pink-skinned varieties of Cereza and Criolla Grande have historically formed the backbone of the Mendoza wine industry and today still account for around a quarter of all vineyard plantings. Used primarily for inexpensive

jug wine "Jug wine" is a term in the United States for inexpensive table wine (or "bulk wine") typically bottled in a glass bottle or jug. Historically, jug wines were labeled semi-generically, often sold to third parties to be relabeled, or sold direc ...

s and grape

concentrate A concentrate is a form of substance that has had the majority of its base component (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed. Typically, this will be the removal of water from a solution or suspension, such as the removal of water from ...

, their importance has steadily declined as the Mendoza region focuses more on the export of premium wine

varietals A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

. Malbec has emerged as the most important variety followed, in planted acreage, by Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Argentina's Mendoza wine route: top 10 guide
- published by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...