Here is a list of some of the best wines you can buy in different price brackets, depending on what you´re looking for.

Great wines that cost 10 pesos or less

With the heavy inflation Argentina has experienced over the last few years, there is no longer a good variety of quality wine for less than 10 pesos.  However, here are a few very drinkable wines, perfect for every day drinking.

El Vasco Viejo 2007 (Lopez) $6.80 – This is one of my favorite wines when it comes to value.  It is a blend of Bonarda, Malbec, and Tempranillo, and the grapes come from the Lopez vineyards in Maipu and Lujan de Cuyo.  Fruity and easy to drink, a decent wine, and when you consider the price, an incredible value!  Our top choice for a budget, everyday wine.

Traful White 2008 (Lopez) $7 – Another one from Lopez, props to them for good cheap wines.  This one is a blend of Chenin Blanc and Pedro Gimenez from the Maipu region. It is light and fruity with a slight floral nose, and a decent finish for a cheap white.

Tocornal (Concho y Toro Tinto) $6.50 – fruity and easy to drink.  Nothing special, but a solid choice for what you´re paying.

Fina Beltrán Dúo Tempranillo-Malbec (Zuccardi) $9.90 – This rare combination turns out to be a nice wine.  The combination of a fruity Malbec with the fullness and spice of a Tempranillo make this a wine with complex flavors, and great with steak.

Aberdeen Angus Clasico Borgoña (Finca Flinchman) $9.50 – Mainly Malbec blended Bonarda, this wine has tastes more like a Cabernet than the two grapes it’s made from.  Another good wine for your steak.

Valderrobles Chablis 2008 (Esmeralda) $7.50- a pleasant fruity wine with a nice citrus finish.   A great drinking wine, but would also go well with food.

Great wines that cost 20 pesos or less

Wines that were under 10 pesos before are now around 15 pesos.  There is a great selection for wines at this price range, here are five of the best.

Quara Torrontes 2007 (Felix Lavaque) $18 – located in Salta, Quara makes some of the best Torontes in the world.   Floral aromas prepare you for the strong peach flavors mixed with hints of jasmine and lemon, followed by a nice, satisfying finish.   This is a flavorful Torrontes, a great value and a versatile summer wine.

Grafigna Vinculos Syrah-Cabernet (Grafigna) $13 – a fruity and easy to drink wine, this is a crowd pleaser.

Callia Alta Shiraz-Bonarda 2008(Callia) $14 – Pretty much any wine with Shiraz from Callia Alta is worth buying.  This blend is an Expose favorite – complex rich fruit flavors, nicely rounded with typical shiraz spice,nice acidity, and smooth tanins.  A great wine that will hold up to any food with strong flavors, but is also great on its own.

Trilogie Malbec – Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot 2007 (Domaine Vistalba) $15 – A great blend of three varieties – dark fruit flavors, a hint of green and red peppers, and a hint of vanilla.  Very nice, and an excellent value.

Humberto Canal Semillon 2007(Humberto Canale) – $20 – another excellent value.  Floral aromas lead to an intense honey flavor with floral notes and a touch of peach.  This is a refreshing, complex wine with loads of flavor.

Great wines that cost 30 pesos or less

You can start to find some really impressive wines in this price range.  These five are outstanding, highly recommended!

Cabarello de la Cepa – Malbec 2007 $30 – the Caballero de la Cepa line of wines from Finca Flinchman is excellent, and this one is arguably the best.  Rich fruit flavors with a hint of vanilla and spice, nicely balanced and a great finish.

Trapiche – Fond de Cave Chardonnay 2006 -$26 – this wine is an amazing value.  It is bursting with flavor, and has a very long finish.  Easily one of the best whites you´ll find in this price range.

Altos Las Hormigas Bonarda 2007(Colonia Las Liebres) $30 – a wine that truly makes you believe the Argentine Bonarda could be the next Malbec. A velvety wine with rich fruit flavors, this is a nearly perfectly wine, showing off the best of Bonarda.

**This wine is very difficult to find.

Perdriel Terruño Malbec 2007 (Norton) $21 – An excellent Malbec for a very good price, this tastes just like a Malbec should.  It has a rich combination of plum, red fruit, eucalyptus, and coffee flavors, and is a very versatile wine.

Graffigna Centenario (Graffigna) Pinot Gris – $26 – A complex blend of floral and peach/apricot flavor, with a very long citrusy finish.  This wine is very crisp, making it a great wine to sip in the summer, but also great with a meal.

Great Wines that Cost less than 50 Pesos

Argentine wines can blow you away at this price.  If you are a tourist, these wines are somewhere in the US $10/  € 8 range.   You should definitely take advantage!

Amalaya 2006 (Colomé) $37 - This has been rated as a wine of great value in various wine magazines, including the prestigious Wine Spectator, which gave it 91 pts.  It is a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Tannat.  It is full of rich fruit flavors, green pepper, a hint of spice, and nice, loooooong finish.  A wine that pleases everyone.

Amalaya Torrontoes 2006 (Colomé) 2007 $36 – What can I say?  Colomé definitely knows how to make great wines.  This Torrontes is one of the best out there, and has been recognized in the past with various awards.  It has intense flavors of honey, caramel, apricot, and citrus.  Not a typical Torrontes, but definitely one of the most pleasing.

Perdriel Merlot 2004 (Norton) $45 – Argentina is not known for good Merlots, and there is a reason for this.  However, this one is definitely an exception and is one of our favorite Merlots.  Rich velvety texture, this has delicious dark and dried fruit flavors, with a hint of spice and chocolate.

Alamos Reserve Tempranillo 2005 (Catena Zapata) $37 – The entire Alamos line is a solid choice if you’re looking for a quality wine.  However, they are badly overpriced in the Argentine market (in the International market they are priced much more competitively, and therefore a much better bargain). This Tempranillo is an exception, and well worth the money.   Rich, complex fruit flavors with hints of mint and spice, this is a meaty wine that can hold up to any cut of Argentine beef, even if you cover it in chimichurri.

Altos Las Hormigas Malbec 2007 $40 (Altos Las Hormigas) – This may be the ultimate Malbec.  If you are looking for a great Malbec to bring back home, or you just want to try an amazing, typical Argentine Malbec, this should be the one.  A strong, flavorful wine with rich, dark fruit flavors, strong but not overpowering tannins, and a hint of vanilla.  Perfect for asado, a wine to appreciate.

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Here’s how it works: You are given a wine glass at the entrance, and then are free to roam around and try all of the wines you like. If you plan on trying a few hundred, remember to spit, or you won’t make it all night!

A recent addition to this expo is a special section for Gourmet Wines. The tickets cost about twice that of your entrance to the expo, but you get to try a variety of wines that cost over $60 pesos retail. A nice option for the true wine aficionados.

In addition the general tasting, there are also various talks, cooking shows, courses, and blind tastings you can take part in. These are especially informative, and are highly recommended to those who are really into wine.

The perfect accompaniment to great wines are meats and cheeses, and these are also available for tastings. They make for a perfect opportunity to take a break from all the wine you are sure to have tried.

When: Beginning of September
Where: La Rural
Why: You love wine, and want an opportunity to try a whole ton of great Argentine wine.

For more information: http://www.expovinosybodegas.com.ar/

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Here´s how it works. You pay an entrance fee of around 100 pesos (cheaper if you buy advanced tickets). The top wineries of Argentina set up a table with a selection of their best wines from each line of wines that they have, including some of their very best. All of the wines served at the event range from $30 to $300 pesos a bottle (retail)! Most people, especially tourists, will never even consider buying wine that is over $40 pesos a bottles. Vinos de Lujos is your one chance to try all of the top wines Argentina has to offer.

Another feature that makes Vinos de Lujo unique is that the representatives serving the wine are usually the wineries’ enologists and/or owners. This makes for a tremendous opportunity to meet the top dogs of your favorite wineries, and learn everything you ever wanted to know about them.

Although the main draw to this event is the wine tasting, also available for tasting are different cheeses, sausages, chocolates, whiskies, coffees, and liqueurs. There are also organized activities and presentations that include more tastings, such as aged wines.

To finish off the four days Vinos de Lujo event is an exclusive high-end dinner, organized by the hotel´s culinary team. Each course is served with one of the top wines from the event, making for the perfect finish to a classy, gourmet event.

When: Beginning of November
Where: Alvear Palace Hotel
Why: For those who love wine, and want to try the high end wines the country has to offer.

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When a foreigner thinks of wine from Argentina, they will almost always associate it with Mendoza. The majority of exported wines are from Mendoza, and the Mendozan wines are so good that they are starting to win many international awards. To truly appreciate these wines, it is important to know WHY these wines are so good.

Although many factors contribute to the fantastic wines coming from Mendoza, there is one reason in particular that gives Mendoza a huge advantage: the lack of precipitation and their form of irrigation. Mendoza has desert-like conditions and receives very little precipitation throughout the year.

Why is this good thing? Most importantly, grape-growers can control the exact amount of moisture their vines are getting by using an irrigation system that transports water down from the nearby mountains. The vines receive the correct amount of moisture at the exact time they should be receiving it. This means grape growers never have to worry about bloated, flavorless grapes caused from too much rain. They can ensure the grapes receive the correct amount of moisture to grow, but not so much they lose their flavor.

A lack of precipitation could be a very big problem grape grows, but Mendoza has the luxury of an ingenious irrigation system that was original developed by the aboriginals. The water that is used to irrigate the grapes comes from the mountains, and is therefore very pure and full of nutritional vitamins, contributing to healthy vines.

The dry conditions also mean there are very few molds or pests that are a threat to the grapes grown in Mendoza, meaning grape growers rarely have to spray their vines.

Mendozan grape growing conditions are truly ideal. The result is excellent quality grapes, and everyone knows that good wine can only be made from good grapes. In Buenos Aires, and any major city of Argentina, there is a huge selection of Mendozan wines. It is recommended you take full advantage of that, and try as many as possible!

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Most people unfamiliar with wine in Argentina (which is pretty much everyone when they first arrive) will often wonder how much they need to spend to buy a decent wine in a retail store. This is no easy question, because wine varies so much from person to person. However, here is something to start with, until you´re more comfortable buying wines in Buenos Aires. All prices in pesos of course.

$12 – $15: buys you a decent, cheap wine, the kind you can drink for any occasion. An every nights wine.
$18 – $25: Nice wine, the kind you can bring to someone´s house for dinner without having to pay too much. These are quite good.
$28 – $40: Starting to get very good. You can find wines in this range that are very good quality.
$40 – $70: Excellent wines, if you know what to pick
$70 and up: you can find exceptional wines for this price. Be aware that once you’re spending over $100, the wines need to age for a while before you really get to appreciate their benefits.

Where is the best place to buy wines?
Your best options are the vinotecas, which are specialty wine stores. This is where you will get the best selection, and the prices are about the same. One of the better chains is Ligier, which has a variety of locations throughout Buenos Aires. The more expensive supermarkets such as Disco, Jumbo, and Carrefour have decent selections as well. The small supermarkets are only good if you want a basic wine.

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When thinking of wine, people do not always associate it with Argentina. However, this is beginning to change, and for good reason. Argentine wines are starting to compete with some of the best wines in the world, evident by the international awards their wines have won. If you are visiting or living in Buenos Aires, no doubt you will be testing the Argentine Wine, and should be taking full advantage of the huge selection.  However, the first few times you go to buy wine, you will likely find it very confusing, and not have any idea which wines to buy, and how much you need to spend. As is true with wines from all countries, there are good, bad, excellent, and horrible wines produced in Argentina. Most importantly, you need to understand the different regions and which types of wine are good from which regions. Here is a BASIC breakdown of where the best wines come from for each region:

North (Salta, Catamarca) – the best Torrontes wines come from here. You can also find some very good Cabernet Sauvignon.

San Juan – This is a very dry, dessert like region, and because of these conditions, it is ideal for the production of Syrah and Viognier.

Mendoza – this is by far the best known wine region of Argentina, and for good reason. In general, the best Argentine wines are produced here, and the Malbecs are especially good. Many different grapes grow well in this region, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, and Tempranillo.

Neuquen/Rio Negro – located in the south of Argentina, they produce the best Merlot and Pinot Noir.
This is a basic guide to help you know which region to look for when purchasing your wines. In general, it is very hard to find good Sauvingong Blanc, Pinto Gris, Pinot Noir, so before buying those, it is best to have a recommendation.

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