Wine history

Viticulture was introduced to Argentina during the Spanish colonisation of the Americas and again, shortly after, by Christian missionaries. In 1556 father Juan Cedrón established the first vineyard in Argentina when cuttings from the Chilean Central Valley were brought to what is now the Mendoza wine region. The first known commercial vineyard was established at Santiago del Estero in 1557 by Jesuit missionaries which was followed by expansion of vineyard plantings in Mendoza in the early 1560s. During this time the missionaries began building complex irrigation channels and dams that would bring water down from the melting glaciers of the Andes to sustain vineyards and agriculture. The method was adopted from the local Inca tribes that use a system of flood irrigation that allows large amounts of water to sink deep into the soils by occasional flooding rather than regular drip-fed irrigation. Viticulture thrived in the climate under the attention of immigrants and missionaries but wasn’t able to fulfil its potential due to the difficult journey to Buenos Aires and the coastal regions, where the wine markets were. In the 19th century, a provincial governor called Domingo Faustino Sarmiento instructed French viticulturalists to plant Malbec grapes in the region, a grape now synonymous with Argentina.

The trade was given a boost in 1885 by the completion of the railway from Mendoza to Buenos Aires that meant wine could now reach its markets quickly and efficiently. The trade was also helped by a new wave of immigrants, that were knowledgeable in wine production, fleeing the devastation of Phylloxera in Europe. Success didn’t last long after the great recession of the 1930’s struck followed by a succession of military dictatorships that took Argentina from the world’s 8th largest economy to near total collapse. The wine trade and local consumption followed a similar path until the 1990’s when ‘flying winemakers’ from France and USA arrived and revived wine making practices. This, in turn, opened up exports with higher quality and competitive pricing due to the low currency value. Argentina now makes great wines which can compete with many of the world’s best wines and is now the 5th largest wine producing nation.