Lakeside Libations Nick Jeffrey libations@theanchor..ca
Fine Argentine Wine
T
he wines of Argentina seem to occupy more shelf space every time I visit my friendly neighbourhood booze merchant, and for good reason indeed. Argentina is blessed with a climate conducive to wine production, and their runaway inflation means that our struggling Canadian dollars can still buy Argentine wine for a very reasonable price. The name Argentina comes from the Latin word for silver, which is what the Spanish conquistadors were searching for during the early days of Spanish colonization in the 1500’s. It was not long after the first waves of Spanish colonization that European grape varietals were planted in Argentina, and certain grapes thrived particularly well in the Argentine terroir. The most famous Argentine wine export is Malbec, a grape varietal originally from the Bordeaux region of France, which grows very well in Argentina. Malbec is one of the six grape varietals permitted in Bordeaux wines, giving it a pedigree of the highest order, as Bordeaux is widely considered the gold standard that all others are judged against. Today, Argentina is the world’s fifth largest wine producer, but it began with a single humble vineyard planted by 28
October 23, 2023 Volume 23 No. 43
Christian missionaries in the late 1550’s. Production was small for a few centuries, until the biggest leap for the Argentine wine industry took place in 1868, when the Malbec grape varietal was introduced from the Bordeaux region of France, and has since become the national grape varietal for Argentina. Argentine Malbec is noticeably distinct from French Malbec. Argentine Malbec grapes tend to be smaller than their French counterparts, and are considerably less tannic, making Argentine wines more plush and velvety on the tongue. Some of these differences are due to terroir, but it is also suspected that the vineyards of Argentina are planted with a unique offshoot of Malbec that disappeared from France during the great phylloxera epidemic that devastated European vineyards in the mid-nineteenth century. The bulk of the vineyards in Argentina are around the city of Mendoza, on a high-altitude plateau at the edge of the Andes mountains. The most productive vineyards are located 800 to 1200 meters above sea level, with hot sunny days moderated by chilly nights for a long growing season that allows the rich flavours to fully mature before harvest.
Chestermere Anchor News Magazine: Home Grown, Well Anchored, Reaching far beyond Chestermere’s Shores
