The Argentine Wine Revolution: Where Argentine Wines Have Been and Where They Are Going

Of course, it would be no surprise to assert that Argentina has come a considerably long way over the last decade in terms of the depth that its wine producers are capable of achieving. The manner in which this process has and continues to take place, however, has less to do with the factors that used to be paramount (foreign buyouts) and more with the industry exporting a different image of itself altogether. This phenomenon alongside other compelling developments in recent times have precipitated what I believe to be a pivotal changing of the guard when it comes to the style of Argentine wines that American consumers are welcoming more and more.

Artisan-made Argentine wine producers are no longer lost in the wilderness, playing second fiddle in terms of international exports, to say, the larger, industrial-style producers or Mendoza wine operations funded with foreign money. Argentina’s bout with hyperinflation in the early 1980’s, the kind that made my family sell their business and book it towards the United States, as well as the government’s mismanagement of the World Bank and IMF-instigated crises of the 1990’s were devastating for the export aspirations of Argentine families with a winemaking tradition. Like many American fruit farmers getting undercut and essentially obliterated by Dole, Sunkist and the like, the nature of wine production during times of turbulence in Argentina has made it difficult for these producers to stay afloat; and so, like vultures, the 1980’s and 1990’s saw foreign capital descend upon Mendoza in the form of large multinational drinks corporations and others who scooped up the winemaking patrimony of many financially pressed families.

For quite some time now, these types of wine operations have made drinking the wine of my native country while abroad in the US a sadly confusing affair to say the least. Here I was, drinking these wines which had labels reading “Mendoza” or “Cuyo,” so they were certifiably real, but made in styles which weren’t even in the ballpark as far as what I knew I liked to drink. Did Argentine wines change, and thus, Argentine tastes, or was something being kept from those of us who live in North America? Some very successful investors and qualified winemakers from highly prestigious European wineries became involved with their pet projects in Mendoza, but to me, something just did not sit right. I felt a bit heartbroken that as a wine lover, the wines of my native country available for export reflected something I didn’t like—far from it in fact, something I couldn’t even relate to in any meaningful way.

Those darker days, however, seem to be coming to an end as the tide of taste gradually begins to favor Argentine winemakers that provide innovation, quality, exceptional value, and at last, the types of wines that bring a little piece of home back to my dinner table. I feel that a newly found sense of openness and curiosity in the American wine consumer is taking hold. From the wider availability of all sorts of Argentine wines I’ve noticed to the stimulating conversations I’ve had with people here about Argentina’s winemaking heritage and how it is increasingly reflected—things are moving in a direction I am liking more and more. Someone, however, from the point of view of imports to the US, has to be at the forefront of this revolution. For my next post, I’ll be presenting my interview with a major player in building long-term relationships with artisan Mendoza producers and in turn, striving to make authentically Argentine wines more of a staple than an oddity in the US market.