Argentina - Travel One Of The World's Best Wine-Growing Regions

No-one likes to be shown up in a restaurant when confronted with a wine menu. Most of us try to look knowledgeably through the confusing choices of countries of origin, grapes and wineries whilst trying not to panic. If all goes well, our fellow dinner companions will be impressed. It's even nicer if the wine actually turns out to be drinkable!

If there's a safe bet when confronted by a phone-directory thick wine list, its a wine from Argentina. As they are the 5th largest producer of wine in the world, there are bound to be a couple of their bottles to choose from. With a quick skim of this article, you'll hopefully have a good idea of the selection to expect and a bit of impressive chat to go with it.

How did Argentina get wine anyway?
The production and consumption of Argentinian wine has been around for more than 400 years, when the first specimens of 'vitis vinifera' were brought to the continent by the Spanish conquistadors at the start of the 1500's.

The catholic priests that arrived established vineyards close to their monasteries to be able to cultivate wine for celebrating mass. Thanks to the favourable climate close to the Andes mountains, the vineyards grew fast, showing great potential for a wine industry.

When European immigrants arrived in the 1800's, they brought new tools and techniques for cultivation as well as a wider variety of grapes. Construction of railroads in the late 1800's removed the final obstacle for large scale supply and the Argentinian market boomed.

Where do they grow the grapes?
The coverage of vineyards in Argentina is roughly 226,450 hectares. Despite the wide variety in climate from the change in Latitude (vineyards covering the country from the same level as Morocco in the north to New Zealand in the south) the higher altitude between 2000 and 3000 metres keeps growing conditions roughly the same.

Growing conditions in the Andean foothills prove ideal for Cabernet, Malbec, Pinot, Semilon, Merlot y Chardonnay varieties. In general, growing regions are dry and arid with low levels of rain and humidity; perfect for good, healthy grapes. Insects, fungi, mould and other diseases normally punishing European vineyard owners aren't an issue in Argentina, and this gives the added benefit of being able to grow with few pesticides. As a result, organic standard wine is much easier to produce.

The vast majority of cultivation happens in the Mendoza region in western Argentina at the foot of the Andes, where around 80% of the wine is grown. Other popular regions include Salta in the far north of the country and Neuquen and Rio Negro in the far south on the fringes of Patagonia.

What types of wine are there?
Red wine is most commonly produced in Argentina at 47% of total production. Rose make up 30% and the remaining 23% is white wine.

A wide variety of grapes exist in Argentina, including popular choices available in neighbouring countries such as Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. However Argentina also has a tradition of Spanish and Italian varieties like Tempranillo, Bonarda and Barbera that can make some excellent red wines.

A couple of grapes that have been cultivated and developed very well are Torrontes and Malbec. Torrontes is a white wine grape that according to experts, makes "Terrifically fragrant, perfumed yet rich and fruity wines with crisp acidity and plenty of body." When considering a red, Argentinian Malbecs are "Perhaps the best in the world, with powerful, smooth deeply-fruited inky black wines full of spice and character."

Get to know your grapes first-hand
Up until the 1990's, wine in Argentina was more focused on the national market; 90% of consumption was Argentinian. However, with a huge drop in national wine consumption, vineyards started a big drive to export more wines and focus their attentions on international markets. The strong increase in tourism has also encouraged them to open their facilities to the public. This now means that when confronted with the wine selection, you can name drop certain bottles that were tasted on your last trip to Argentina...

If you want to get deep into the Argentinian wine culture, tours are available on the 'wine route', a winding 2000km that traverses several provinces, altitudes and geographic regions. Its a great alternative way to discover a beautiful country, and with around 2000 wineries you'll never be short of options putting together your own unique trip. Sitting on the veranda of an Argentinian winery and sipping a glass of Malbec while the sun sinks below the grape-heavy vines may not appeal to everyone...but someone has to do it!

Author: Gary Sargent - Escaped to Peru / Escaped to Latin America

Ché Guevara - How Much Do You Really Know?

A good friend of mine from Argentina has a great Ché Guevara t-shirt. Beneath the iconic image of the revolutionary in bold letters are the words "No sé quien era, pero es la moda"; I don't know who he was, but it's fashionable.

El Ché has become the personification of rebellion and counter-culture, and you can find the world-famous photograph "Guerriero Heroico" printed on everything from posters to bikinis. Guevara no doubt would have despised the rampant consumerism built around his image having passionately pursued communist principles for most of his adult life.

We've all seen the photo, some have watched the movie and a few have even got the t-shirt, but how many of the following facts did you know about Ernesto Guevara?

1) Foreign Ché

Depite being instrumental in the Cuban revolution and poessing saint-like status amongst the Cuban population, Mr. Guevara was actually born in Rosario, Argentina. In reference to Che's "restless" nature, his father declared "the first thing to note is that in my son's veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels", putting him about as far away from Cuban roots as a cup of Starbucks coffee. When you add to the mix that "Ché" comes from Argentinian slang meaning 'pal' or 'dude', you'll wonder why you ever thought our man was ever Cuban.

2)

Wheezy ChéFar from superhuman status, Guevara suffered from acute episodes of crippling asthma. In childhood, his fits were so frequent and violent that his family were forced to move from the damp coastal climate of San Isidro to the dry mountain region near Cordoba. His problems didn't stop him from being an athlete, enjoying swimming, soccer, golf and rugby. His asthma freqently incapacitated him on famous travels, documented in the 2004 film "The Motorcycle Diaries", and involment in active conflict in Latin America and Africa.

3)

Freebie ChéUpon capture in Bolivia, Ché was reputed to have shouted, "I am Ché Guevara, and I am worth more alive than dead!"He probably knew something we didn't, because Albert Korda, the photographer of the classic "Guerrillero Heroico" shot, never made a cent in royalties from his picture. Snapped at a memorial service, Albert was proud of the picture and hung it on his wall where it stayed until an Italian journalist asked if he could have it. Korda obliged, and the journalist dutifully used the image on a poster after Guevara's death, setting in motion the phenominal popularity that the photograph would eventually achieve.

4)

Sober ChéAlert Korda actually recieved $50,000 (which he donated to charity) as a result of a successful lawsuit with a British advetising agency who used Guevara's image to sell their vodka. He presumably saw this as the last straw following 40 years of happy-go-lucky abuse of his image because El Ché was a teetotaler; despite famously chugging on cigars for most of his life, he never touched a drink.

5)

No-votes ChéBefore we get all frothy about revolutionary spirit and the romance of rebellion, lets not forget that if we knew the full story about life under Guevara's administration, we probably wouldn't be voting him into a following term in office; during his tenure as Minister of Industry Cuba was forced to begin food rationing.

Don't expect much in the way of kissing babies and soft policies from Candidate Ché either; he stood out from his peers fighting Castro's cause in Cuba and was quickly promoted to comandante, where he enforced a zero tolerance policy toward deserters by sending execution squads to hunt them down. This was just a warm up for Guevara, and when he got into power he was appointed head of La Cabaña, a court in which he played judge, jury and executioner to purge Cuba of loyalists of the previous administration. Historians estimate that he did away with as many as 2000 people, and his activities earned him the cheery name of The Butcher of La Cabaña.

Love him or hate him, Ernesto Guevara's face isn't going anywhere; he'll be around on merchandise for a few years yet. It's always difficult to form opinions about a man how became famous as an image, a ghost associated with whatever people wanted to use him for, but hopefully these facts will have blown away a bit of the Cuban cigar smoke.