Over the past decade or so, Argentina has become the New World’s fastest growing exporter of wines. It is becoming increasingly well known for it’s incredible Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Torrontés, and more. So what is making the 2018 Argentina wine so different?
For the past several years, wine regions throughout Argentina have dealt with challenging vintages due to both the weather and political climate. This year (2018) has proven to be a welcome change from the norm by bringing in both a higher quantity and quality of grapes.
According to Laura Catena of Catena Zapata in an interview conducted by the Wine Enthusiast, 2018 was “El Año Mendocino” or the Mendoza year, based on the conditions in Argentina’s leading winemaking region. “After a small, cool vintage in 2017, which we call ‘El Año Bordelés’ [the Bordeaux Year] and a small, very cool and rainy year in 2016, ‘El Año Bourguignon’ [the Burgundian year], we finally got a vintage that is classically Mendozan: dry, cool, sunny and with moderate yields in every region from the lowest to the highest altitudes.”
As Argentine wine lovers, we are very excited at the prospect of tasting such monumental wines and look forward to next year’s Chile & Argentina Wine Tour where we focus our explorations on the Mendoza wine region. If the 2018 Argentina wine vintage lives up to it’s hype, we are certainly in for a treat.
