Argentina is a very large country and vines grow in an area that extends southward for over 2,000 km from to Jujuy province (23°S) to southern Patagonia (46°S). The main north-western wine region is situated in the province of Salta, around 24°S latitude, where the vineyards are as close to the equator as Abu Dhabi or Key West. It would be impossible to grow vines at this latitude if it were not for the high slopes of the Andes. The vineyards start at 1,500- m above sea level and rise above 2,000-m, almost unthinkable altitudes in most other countries. Bodega Colomé’s experimental vineyard near Payogasta, one of the highest in the world, is at 3,111-m. Salta produced 24m L in 2014, which represented about 1.57% of Argentina’s total wine production. What sets Salta’s wines apart is that the vast majority are of premium quality.
Long traditions
Winemaking has a long tradition in Salta. Jesuit priests brought the first vines from Peru in the eighteenth century to the town of Molinos. Today, Salta has over 2,921 ha of vineyards in the departments of Cafayate, San Carlos, Angastaco and Molinos, all along the Calchaquí Valleys. Half of the vines were planted over 25 years ago; many are over 100 years old. Malbec is the most-planted red grape variety, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon, Tannat, Merlot, Bonarda, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Barbera, which together cover 55% of the total vineyard planted area. But in Salta’s arid and sunny valleys, it’s the Torrontés Riojano grapes which acquire the unique flavours that are the hallmark of the region’s flagship whites. Torrontés is the most planted white variety followed by Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
The main subzone for wine production is located near the city of Cafayate, about four hours south of Salta, the regional capital. Around 70% of the region’s vineyards are to be found here and 99% of its highest-quality wines. It’s home to important wineries such as Finca Quara; Etchart, which belongs to Pernod Ricard; and El Esteco, a subsidiary of Peñaflor.
In recent years the ‘Salteña’ wine industry has experienced significant growth and developed wines whose quality has been recognised in foreign markets and international competitions. The individual character of Salta’s high-altitude wines is the result of the combination of the unique characteristics of the soil and climate, and technological innovation, coupled with the dedication and knowledge of producers. One of the most influential factors is the altitude of the valleys where the vines are grown. This not only favours a wide temperature range (10° to 15°C night/day), but the effect of the sun’s rays is stronger at higher altitudes. Rain is scarce – there is only 200mm per year because of the natural barrier of the Andes mountains, but there is plenty of snow-melt water.
To understand the region you need to know the pioneers. One of the most relevant wine personalities in Cafayate is Arnaldo Etchart. His mother’s family got into the wine business in 1850, while his father, Arnaldo Benito Etchart, bought La Florida estate in 1938, the year in which he was born. When his father died, Etchart was just 18 years old, and it is said that the winery staff attended his father’s funeral and, from that day on, started calling him “patrón” – boss – assuming he would take over the business. That spontaneous recognition led him to give up his plans to study law and to take the helm of the winery. In his hands, Etchart Privado Torrontés, always the biggest-selling wine in the region, also became its icon. In 1987 Etchart hired the services of the French winemaker Michel Rolland, who became his friend and business partner. Following Rolland’s advice, Etchart lowered yields, worked each vineyard separately, and harvested later to obtain fully ripe grapes. In 1989 a blend called Arnaldo B, Etchart’s first super-premium wine, was launched. It soon became a turning point for Argentina’s wine industry.
In 1995 Etchart started a project involving a 16-ha vineyard in San Pedro de Yacochuya, just above Cafayate, at 2,000-m. The following year saw him sell the family winery to Pernod Ricard, as his political activities had left him little time and money for it. His work with Rolland continued with the construction of a small, 200,000-L facility, and 1999 brought the bottling of the first Yacochuya M. Rolland. As a result of health issues, he handed the management of the company to his three sons: Marcos, the winemaker, and Arnaldo and Pablo, who handle sales and administration.
One of Etchartʼs biggest strengths was to surround himself with good collaborators. Apart from Rolland, he hired experts such as Jorge Riccitelli, who went on to become chief winemaker at Bodega Norton in Mendoza in 1992, and José Luis Mounier, who made Cafayate his home.
José Luis ‘the Japanese’ Mounier was born in Mendoza. His nickname was given to him by Michel Rolland because of his keenness on taking photographs of the French consultant whenever he visited, and of writing down in a little notebook everything Rolland said. After working with Etchart he moved to Bodega Félix Lavaque’s Finca Quara, where he is still a consultant. In 1995, with his family, he started Finca Las Nubes in El Divisadero, near Cafayate. There he has his vineyards, winery and a restaurant, while remaining a consultant for several wineries in the region, including the small, promising Tukma, and Las Arcas de Tolombón in Tucumán province.
When talking about Torrontés, of which he is an acknowledged master, Mounier says: “I think Torrontés is very well adapted to our terroir. We have been working for about 20 years with this grape to achieve complex, fine, balanced, elegant wines, with no bitter finish; with greater longevity, and that can be paired with different dishes.” The Torrontés wines from Finca Las Nubes, have subtle but complex aromas; rich, good density; and a long, harmonious finish. “To make these wines,” he says, “the Cafayate climate and altitude helps, but we must play our part. If you do not know how to train the vines, the sun can burn your grapes, so we look for the best orientation depending on each location and variety, choosing training systems and canopy management that is most appropriate. I always say that just because I live in the same neighbourhood as Messi, that doesn’t make me as good a footballer as him.”
New blood
Going north from Cafayate along the scenic Ruta Nacional 40 along the Calchaquí river you will pass through the Quebrada de las Conchas and arrive at the colonial town of Molinos. It was here that, in 1831, José Benjamín Dávalos, the former governor of Salta, built Colomé. His wife, Asención, imported pre-phylloxera Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon vines from France. The wines gained an outstanding reputation for quality, and for 170 years the winery remained in the hands of the Dávalos family.
In 2001 Raúl Dávalos, the fourth winemaking member of his family, sold the winery and 39,000 ha of land to the Swiss businessman Donald Hess, owner of the Hess Collection in California and – until recently – Peter Lehmann in Australia. Hess and his wife Ursula had first visited the region in 1998 on a quest to find ideal places to make unique wines.
After buying the property, Hess’s team started planting 140 ha of vineyard in four Fincas, or estates: the Colomé vineyard around the winery, at an altitude of 2,300-m; Finca La Brava (1,750-m) in Cafayate; and the El Arenal vineyard (2,700-m) and Altura Maxima (3,110-m), both near Payogasta. This last is one of the highest vineyards in Argentina. A state-of-the-art winery, a five-star hotel and the James Turrell Museum were all built, along with new houses, a community centre and even a church for the 400 inhabitants of Colomé. In 2010, Hess added Bodegas Muñoz, to his group of wineries, renaming it Amalaya and making it Hess Estates’ seventh winery. The winemaker is French oenologist Thibaut Delmotte, and the wines are sold in more than 25 countries.
Raúl Dávalos did not give up winemaking after leaving the family estate. Today, he continues to produce his 33 and RD artisanal wines in Tacuil, where he planted more vineyards at a higher altitude. Another family winery to watch is Domingo Hermanos. It has two facilities: a new one in San Pedro de Yacochuya, and the historical one in Cafayate. It is headed by the patriarch, Don Palo Domingo, and his sons Osvaldo and Rafael. They have a goat cheese factory and have built a stone town in the mountains.
The consistent quality of the wines of the region and its climate surely will attract more investors like Minnesota business couple and wine aficionados Jon and Arlene Malinski. The Malinskis started with Piattelli Vineyards, a small project in Mendoza in 2002, and later built a 5,500 square metre wine production facility in Salta equipped with the latest technology.
Salta is best known for the white wines it produces from the Torrontés Riojano, a grape that seems to be unrelated both to the Torrontés variety grown in Spain and the Spanish region of Rioja. Still more confusingly, other Argentine regions grow different strains of Torrontés, with San Juan having Torrontés Sanjuanino and Mendoza, the largest wine-producing area in the country, Torrontés Mendocino.
Wines made from all of these will usually be labeled simply as Torrontés. While the wines bearing this name are almost always described as ‘fragrant’ and ‘aromatic’, the Sanjuanino and Mendocino strains seem to have less of these qualities than the Riojano, and styles of Torrontés can vary enormously, as New York Times writer Eric Asimov discovered in 2011 when he held a tasting of 20 examples. “It was clear right away that Torrontés has issues of identity,” he noted. “These wines were all over the stylistic map. Some were indeed dry, light-bodied and crisp, like Pinot Grigios. Others were broad, heavy and rich, like ultra-ripe California Chardonnays.”
Asimov’s top four wines – and the most aromatic, with a Muscat-like character – were all from Salta, and were, in order of preference, produced by Michel Torino, Catena Alamos, Susana Balbo and Tomás Achával. In fact, seven of the most highly-rated ten wines all came from Salta. Despite its confusing styles, Torrontés sales in the US are booming, rising from 29,333 cases in 2004 to 231,000 in 2010.
Robert Joseph
