A place of riches

Located at the southern end of South America, and shared by both Argentina and Chile, Patagonia is the stuff of legends. Daniel López Roca reports on the Argentine wine region of the same name.

Bodega Del Río Elorza
Bodega Del Río Elorza

For many people across the world, ­Patagonia evokes an image of a mythical,­ pure, unexplored land where nature resists human intervention. However, Patagonia is not about myths; it’s about people simply trying to make a living in a windy desert. With a population density of just 1.9 inhabitants per square kilometer and a total area of 2.74m km² , this empty region is paradoxically characterized by an abundance of energy resources, particularly oil and gas; by the quality and quantity of its sheep; the richness of the fishing resources of its almost 2,000 km of coastline; and by the coexistence of an arid, windy plateau with the rugged ­Andes and its forest-filled western border.

At a glance

The centre of the Patagonia wine region is ­located 1,000 km south of Buenos Aires, and 2,000 km north of Tierra del Fuego. From east to west it is equidistant from the Andes and the Atlantic Ocean. The Limay and Neuquén ­rivers converge near Neuquén, to become the Río ­Negro (River Negro), which is responsible for the fertile Upper Río Negro Valley. The ­valley is a glacial bed 25 km wide that stretches for 500 km along the river banks at 230 metres above sea level. It is irrigated by a canal network planned by Italian engineer Césare Cipolletti, first excavated by British colonists in the late 1820s, and finally completed by the Argentine government. The northern viticultural borders of Patagonia are the banks of the Colorado River in the province of La Pampa, near the city of Veinticino de Mayo; to the east, there are the fertile plains near the Atlantic­ in the south of the province of Buenos Aires; and to the south, the line is drawn near parallel 43, in the province of Chubut. More than 80% of the production comes from the provinces of Río Negro – where it all started – and Neuquén, home of most of the new wineries.

The dry climate, with 180 mm of rainfall per year and a maximum humidity of 30%, and the desert, which forms a natural barrier, result in an absence of Phylloxera and other vine diseases. During the ripening period, temperatures range from an average of 28°C during the day to 9°C at night. The seasons are consistent and neatly defined with hot summers, cold winters and mild springs and autumns.

The arrival of the train in the early 20th ­century, together with the use of the rivers for irrigation, helped to transform of the valleys of Río Negro and Neuquén, which enjoyed a golden­ age between 1920 to 1960. There were 260 ­wineries, and for over 50 years Río ­Negro was Argentina’s third biggest producer of grapes and wine - after Mendoza and San Juan - and had 17,000 ha planted by 1968.

The crisis in the wine sector between 1985 to 1995, however, almost wiped out the region’s last independent producers and nearly brought about the destruction of the entire regional economy. Those were years of huge yields and low quality and prices – an unsustainable model­ for a cold region, far away from the domestic market. Patagonia could not compete with the wine regions of Mendoza and San Juan, so most of the producers had no choice but to uproot their vineyards in order to plant apples and pears. The Humberto Canale winery in Río Negro was the only brand to continue to produce and sell wines from Patagonia.

Río Negro today has 4,000 ha of vineyards which allow for the production of truly high- quality­ wines. The towns of Cipolletti and ­General Roca in the province of Río Negro are the home of traditional wineries such as ­Humberto Canale and a plethora of smaller artisan wineries such as Chacra, Noemía, Del Río Elorza, Miras, Infinitus, Estepa, Agrestis, Chacras del Sol and Basanta, all in the Upper Valley. To the east, quality viticulture also made a comeback with the Rivus winery in Darwin and Océano winery in Viedma. 

Notable wineries

Humberto Canale has 150 ha of vineyards and 350 ha of fruit trees. The winery, which produces 1.6m L a year, is run by the fifth generation of the Canale family, including Guillermo Barzi Canale and his son Guillo. Today, Canale’s­ most recognised brands include Marcus, ­Intimo and Estate. The best varieties run from a very ­interesting Sémillon to Pinot Noir, Merlot, ­Malbec and a promising Cabernet Franc.

Bodega Noemià de Patagonia is the project launched by the Italian wine producer Countess Noemi Marone Cinzano and the Danish wine­maker Hans Vinding-Diers. It all started with the discovery of an old Malbec vineyard plan­ted in the 1930s in Valle Azul. Vinding-Diers ­decided that this was the perfect setting for the biodynamic winemaking he had learned from his cousin, Peter Sisseck of the Pingus estate in Spain. Noemià produces just three super-premium­ Malbecs: A Lisa, J. Alberto and Noemià. 

Bodega Chacra belongs to Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, of Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia) in Tuscany. He arrived in Patagonia searching for the place where his cousin’s husband, Hans Vinding-Diers, had made a wine he had once tasted. In 2004, he purchased an abandoned vineyard that had been planted on its own roots in 1932. Later, he purchased two other old-vine Pinot Noir vineyards, to produce two single-vineyard wines. The first, from a vineyard planted in 1955, called Cincuenta y Cinco (55), and the second, from vines planted in 1967, named Sesenta y Siete (67). It also produces a table wine branded Barda (Ridge).

Near the town of General Fernandez Oro, pioneer wine­maker Marcelo Mirás from Mendoza, started Miras Patagonia Argentina. With four ­hectares of its own Malbec and Merlot, the ­winery makes 25,000 bottles a year of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Trousseau, Semillón and Chardonnay. Their Üdwe Semillón is one of the most expressive wines in Patagonia. Despite its limited production, Miras exports to Brazil, Peru, Mexico, USA, Canada, Belgium, Denmark and China. 

Bodega Aniello is located in Mainqué. ­Santiago Bernasconi and Carlos de Angelis ­created this small new winery in 2011, when they bought 60 ha of vineyards - some planted in 1998 - and a working winery that dated from 1927. They have one hectare of ­Trousseau planted in 1932 and four of Malbec from 1947, among other varieties such as Pinot Noir, ­Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc. In 2013, the winery bottled the first vintage of Aniello 006 Estate range, featuring Malbec, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Now they are releasing the first Old Vine Trousseau from Argentina. 

Bodega Del Río Elorza is a family winery with 18 ha of high-density vineyards. The ­winemakers are the internationally renowned Alberto Antonini and the locals Mariano Vignoni­ and Agustín Lombroni. Their Verum wines are an example of the winemaking potential of Patagonia. In addition to Malbec, they also produce fine Merlot, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Océano is a family winery offering quite ­different wine styles because of the soil and maritime climate. Its owners are brothers Juan and Jorge Lascano, whose organic vineyards are in the Viedma Valley close to the Atlantic Ocean.
Finally, in Río Negro, there is the Agrestis­ Winery, located close to General Roca. The ­Ghirardelli family bought the 100-year-old prope­rty and recovered 19 ha of old vineyards. The winery, directed by Florencia Ghirardelli and her father, Norberto Ghirardelli, produces 25,000 bottles of sparkling and still wines, ­including  Agrestis Nature, Agrestis Nature Rose and an original and unusual sparkling wine made with Gewürztraminer.  

Neuquén 

Neuquén is one of the youngest wine-growing regions of Argentina; with little more than a decade of history. The first vineyards were planted at the beginning of the present century in the area of San Patricio del Chañar and Añelo. The late engineer Roberto Gasparri was a ­pioneer fruit-grower in the region, starting in 1969 and transforming 11,000 ha of virgin land into a rich, productive area. In the 1980s, his company was the biggest fruit exporter in Argentina. But at the beginning of the 1990s, a combination of unsustainable debts and a lack of state support drove the company into bankruptcy. The provincial government took over the project, giving new entrepreneurs soft credits to buy the land, plant vineyards and fruit trees, and to build new wineries and other facilities. Today, the apex of new winemaking is located near San Patricio del Chañar, where the Del Fin del Mundo, NQN, Familia Schröeder, Valle Perdido, Familia Grittini and Secreto Patagónico wineries were all built.

Bodega del Fin del Mundo’s story began in 1996, when an entrepreneur called Julio Viola acquired 3,200 ha of land in San Patricio del Chañar, and, in 2003, became the first to build a winery in the province. The earliest vineyards were planted in 1999 and the results of these early plantations were the launchpad for the winery and for an entire wine region. In 2009, the Viola family joined forces with oil business executive Eduardo Eurnekian’s family to buy the neighbouring NQN winery. The first harvest was of about 40,000 kg of grapes, a figure that has already grown to over 11m kg.

Roberto Schroeder’s Familia Schroeder­ boasts a gravity-fed winery, and 140 ha of selected­ clones of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay,­ Torrontés, Pinot Noir, Malbec, ­Cabernet Sauvignon­ and Merlot. In building the winery, a 75m year-old bone was found that was discovered to be from one of the world’s largest dinosaurs, and gave the Saurus name to both the Familia Schroeder wines and its restaurant.

Bodega Patritti was founded in 2003 with the planting of 110 ha of Cabernet Sauvignon,­ ­Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Pinot Noir, ­Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Torrontés. It has a capacity of 1.5m L and the wave-like shape of its architecture mimics the valley slopes. It produces extraordinarily good Pinot Noir.

Other zones 

Bodega del Desierto in Veinticinco de Mayo, was a pioneer in the province of La Pampa near the Colorado River. Merlot, Pinot Noir, Malbec and Viognier are now also being planted near the towns of Casa de Piedra and Gobernador Duval. Finally, at Epuyén in Chubut, Bernardo Weinert, the owner of Bodega Weinert – has planted the most southerly vineyards of the Americas­ and built a winery. He is now experimenting even further south, on the edge of the 43rd parallel.

In only 10 years Patagonian wines have evolved significantly to acquire their own identity that reflects a unique combination of climate, soil and its people. And the region’s story is just beginning.

 

 

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