Colomé is a village and rural municipality in

Salta Province Salta () is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa Province, Formosa, Chaco Province, Chaco, Santiago del Estero Province, Santiago del Es ...

in northwestern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. It is located about 20 km from Molinos, Salta. This settlement was established by the last Spanish governor of Salta, Nicolás Severo de Isasmendi, in 1831. His daughter Ascención imported

grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...

s from France and planted them in the area at an average altitude of 2200 m, which is extremely high for

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

. The climate is dry and arid, and temperature differences between day and night can be high. The winters are very cold. Under these conditions, growing grapes is a challenge, but it has the advantage that insects, pests and diseases are less common. Swiss vigneron

Donald M. Hess Donald M. Hess (3 August 1936 – 30 January 2023) was a Swiss winemaker and art collector. Life and career Donald Marc Hess inherited a brewery close to Bern from his father. His father died when he was 20 years old. After learning the brewi ...

bought the Bodega Colomé and vineyards in the neighbourhood in 2001. One of his vineyards is at 3100 m (approx. 10,000 ft), the highest elevation worldwide. Its wine is called ''Altura Máxima''. In addition, Donald M. Hess has built a museum in Colomé dedicated to the American artist ''James Turrell'', which opened in 2009.''Museo James Turrell.''
bodegacolome.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14

References

Populated places in Salta Province Viticulture {{Salta-geo-stub