WINE WISDOM

Renaissance In Argentina

by Ed Schwartz

  If one is looking for a prime example of the effects of political and economic chaos in a particular country, one could hardly find worse conditions than in Argentina’s recent past. It wasn’t always that way. In the 1920s, Argentina was the eighth richest nation in the world!
   In the 1940s Argentina got stung by Juan Peron, whose role model was Benito Mussolini. Peron’s more famous wife, Evita, spent a lot of money on maintaining her good looks and eventually inspired one of the better musicals on Broadway. The song Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina, could have been sung by the people as, “Do Cry for Us.”
   They had a lot to cry about — conditions for the poor and middle class were unraveling because of series of corrupt governments. By the early 1980s, inflation was running as high as 1000 percent (!) a year and the wine industry was suffering, too, with a glut of very ordinary wines and no one at home with money to buy them, and not good enough to export.
   Just when one thought Argentina’s economic state couldn’t get worse, it did. In 2000, under an ineffectual president, two cabinet ministers and several members of the Senate were found guilty of taking bribes. The ministers were retained, which angered the country’s vice-president enough that he resigned in disgust. The economy plunged into a deep recession, and Argentina had to seek huge help from the International Money Fund with a $40 billion aid package supposedly to take the pressure off, but it was too late. Unemployment rose to 20 percent, and by the end of the year, Argentina was in default of a $142 billion debt. There were food riots in December and many people were killed. The new president resigned, the next president resigned. Then, the Argentine peso went into a free fall, and, finally, Nestor Kirchner was elected in April 2003 and started the long process of a turnaround. .
   What has all this to do with wine? A lot. With the Argentine peso low against the dollar, and land and labor costs so inexpensive, Argentine wines are one of the best bargains around. But are they good? Yes and yes! The wines are really the latest hot thing and deservedly so. Most wine gurus consider the great rise in quality nothing short of amazing. It all has to do with intense, world-wide competition for the wine consumer’s interest. Argentina is in the middle of a battle for quality recognition, and that means the wine consumer is once more the winner.
   The history of wines from Argentina began in the mid-16th century. The first vineyard was in place in 1557 near what would become the town of Mendoza in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Waves of immigrants from Italy, Spain and France brought vines and wine culture. Wine consumption was high in the good times of the 1920s but by the 1980s the wine industry was not in good shape.
   It was then that some visionary leaders of the industry decided to turn things around and began improving their wines so that they could export to appreciative markets. One of the pioneers of this new wave of fine wines was Nicolas Catena, who owns a state-of-the-art winery in the shape of a Mayan temple. He’s from a winemaking family, but did not enter his family’s business immediately.
   He received his PhD in economics from Chicago University and was invited by UC Berkeley to teach agricultural economics. On weekends he went to the Napa Valley and was astounded at the quality of California wines — all new to him. He was inspired by the Mondavi story and others in Napa, and decided to go back to Argentina and create a world-class wine estate in the Mendoza area.
   The wines were presented in the mid 1990s and in 2000. A Cabernet-Malbec blend, the 1997 Nicolas Catena Zapata, won blind tastings, and more than held its own with such comparables as Solaia, Château Latour, Caymus and Opus One. Soon the winery was scoring major points with its Malbec varietal.
   While it’s simplistic to say that the Malbec grape is the highlight varietal of the renaissance of the Argentine wine industry, it does make a good case. In France, there’s still some Malbec planted in Bordeaux, but in the high foothills of the Andes, near the middle of Argentina and close to the Pacific Ocean, Malbec has taken the prize and is the varietal now associated with the best wines of Argentina. Here, Malbec produces wines that are rich, balanced and delicious, and of great value. Many wine folks note that Argentina is producing the best wines in South America today.
   There are several major wine regions, with Mendoza the biggest and best. The vineyards are at very high altitudes. Here in California, a vineyard at 2000 feet is considered high. Some vineyards in Mendoza are close to 5000 feet. The vineyards are irrigated with melting snow from high on the Andes. The Rio Negro district, directly south of Mendoza, has great potential, along with Salta in the North. The San Juan district, directly above Mendoza, makes good sherry, and La Rioja, also north and west of Mendoza, produces decent table wines.
   K&L has an excellent range of Argentine wines, some 50 in all: the 2006 Trumpeter Malbec Mendoza is a fine wine value and a great wine to begin your introduction. The wine has delicious, complex flavors with a spicy finish, and is only about $7.
   Achaval Ferrer produces some of Argentina’s best wines. The 2006 Malbec Mendoza bottling is $19.99; its top bottling is the 2005 Achaval Ferrer Finca Mirador, a 100 percent Malbec for $80. More down to earth is the delicious and elegant 2006 Elsa Malbec, a vineyard-designated wine for $7!
   The Wine Club recommends a deep, rich and complex wine from Kaiken, the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon for $10, as well as one of the great wines from Argentina, the 2002 Felipe Rutini Apartado, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot and Syrah. Deep, rich, complex, with loads of fruit and spice, for $45.
   BevMo offers a selection, among them the 2005 Budini Malbec at $10 and the 2007 El Portillo Rosé of Malbec, also at $10.
   Anthony D. Scotto, Jr., a savvy wine marketing veteran, is importing several excellent Argentine wines. Sua makes a delightful, fruity wine, somewhat like a Moscato, with a little sparkle for extra fun. Lithe and light. Sua also produces (no kidding) a lemon sparkling wine that tickles the tongue. Novecento offers a 2007 Mendoza Chardonnay that is delightfully crisp, elegant and clean. The 2005 Dante Robino Malbec is light and elegant with delicious fruit in fine balance.
   While red wines, particularly Malbec, are the stars in the clear, Argentine sky, there’s a white grape, Torrontos, which also is very worthy to try. This grape produces wines that are very appealing; the nose is sweet, somewhat like the Muscat grape but the wines are crisp, with good acidity. There’s the 2007 Dominio del Plata Crios de Susana Balbo, a fragrant alternative to Chardonnay at $13. This winery also makes a lovely rosé of Malbec for around $13. Another Torrontos is the 2007 from La Yunta at $8; not as complex.
   This isn’t the tip of the iceberg; it’s a snowflake on the tip. My best advice is to check out what’s available at the wine merchants and try a range of Malbecs and Torrontos for starters. You’ll be tasting a great new world of wines and you will be very pleased.

     Ed Schwartz has been involved in many aspects of fine wine for 30 years and has worked with top wineries in California, Italy and France. His writings on wine, food and travel have appeared in the SF Chronicle, LA Times and Image magazine.

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