After covering the 4 major wine producing countries (Italy, France, USA, & Spain), it’s time to start looking at the “remaining players” in the game, over the next several Education posts. Some are much better known than others, but they all produce excellent wine. In many cases, this is where the true bargains can be found. Today, I will go over the 2 main South American (SA) producers: Chile and Argentina. There are many big name American and French producers growing grapes in these 2 countries, which should tell you something about their quality. As always, I will be using my two main sources of information: my notes and the reference books World Atlas of Wine (WAoW) & Oxford Companion to Wine (OCtW).
Chile has 16 wine regions or appellations, with many sub-appellations. It is divided geographically into 3 main areas: north, central, & south. 80% of the countries wine comes from the central area, so I will be spending most of my time there. Otherwise, you need to know that Cabernet Sauvignon is king here (1/3 of all vines). The one to remember first is the Maipo Valley. It’s where the oldest and best Cab. Sauv.s come from, frequently referred to as the “Bordeaux of SA”. The next one to remember is Colchagua Valley. This “Napa of Chile” grows 20% of the countries grapes. It also produces excellent Cab. Sauv.s, all well as Carmeneres (the “lost” varietal of Bordeaux). Curico Valley has excellent Bordeaux blends and produces most of Chile’s Sauvignon Blancs. Finally, Maule Valley is a large production area with a lot of old vines.
Argentina has 8 wine regions and is the #5 producer in the world. They, of course, are famous for their Malbec (red) & Torrontes (white) wines. 70% of Argentina’s wine comes out of one region, so I will talk more about it than any other. Mendoza is where you want to get your Malbecs from. Within that, there are 4 sub-regions: Lujian de Cuyo, Maipu, San Rafael, and the Uco Valley. Two are delineated as DOCs (Lujian de Cuyo and San Rafael) and they all grow Malbec grapes. The best Malbecs, right now, are coming out of the 2 DOCs, however the Uco Valley is an “up and comer” producing excellent wines (according to the Wine Spectator). The best Torrontes comes out of Salta, but La Rioja and San Juan also do a very good job. If you’ve never heard of Torrontes, it’s a Riesling-like wine that’s worth checking out. Finally, Europe’s “forgotten” grape, Bonardo (from the French Douce Noir grape), is the most planted red grape after Malbec. San Juan and La Rioja are where you want to go for the best versions of this most unusual wine.
That should be enough for now. With my next Education post, I will cover a few more wine producing countries. Food & Wine will be the subject of my forthcoming post. Be sure to “tune in” to see what pairings I come up with. Until then, cheers!