Wines, Buenos Aires

For those who love wine (me!) Buenos Aires (Argentina in general) has a wonderful selection of fantatic wines. There are many "Bodegues" which are wineries here in Argentina producing some of the best you can find.

Malbec is a favorite of mine and finding a very good and inexpensive Malbec is quite easy here in Buenos Aires. One of my favorite has to be the San Felician which is very good.

Every restaurant we visited provided a nice list of local wines at very reasonable prices. So if you travel to Buenos Aires my advice is to enjoy a nice glass of Malbec with that meal and skip the soda.

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When someone thinks of Argentina the first word that comes to mind is usually "Beef". The second is "wine". The wines in Argentina are exceptional and very affordable. I've enjoyed some incredible reds, whites and sparklings at the various wine tasting and meals I have had in Buenos Aires. On this trip I was happy to introduce some of these wonderful wines to Liz and Rob. Rob was never much of a wine drinker but grew to appreciate the wine after a few days.

I think the best part of a trip is giving someone a new experience and I feel I did that for many people on the Buenos Aires adventure.

Mendoza is one of the eight great wine capitals of the world. It's the most important wine-producing province in Argentina, the heart and soul of Argentina's wine country where European settlers introduced the ancient craft of winemaking in the 19th century. Mendoza is home to more than a thousand wineries and produces more than 80% of all Argentina's wine.

Talking about the red wines, Malbec turned into the most popular and recognized varieties not only for domestic market, but also for international markets. Malbec, imported from France a century ago developed its best characteristics in Mendoza, turn into Argentinean Malbec wine, the best Malbec in the world. With typical black cherry, blackberry and spice aromas, this dark red wine is usually produced in a Bordeaux style, often aged in oak, for a result that is soft, deep and velvety.

Other Argentina's fine reds wines that share same full fruit aroma are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Best Syrah can be found in Salta and San Juan region.

Though wine tasting is not the pastime that Buenos Aires is best known for (for this experience you better visit Mendoza or one of many Argentina's other wine regions), there are some places that offer the most unique wine tasting experience:

Casa Coupage
www.casacoupage.com.ar

Anuva Vinos
reservations@anuvavinos.com

Winery
www.winery.com.ar

Club 647
www.club647.com

Gran Bar Danzon
www.granbardanzon.com.ar/danzon

Terroir
www.terroir.com.ar

One thing is certain: if you like wine as much as I do, in Buenos Aires you'll be in heaven :) Cheers!!

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Each year during the Cow Do, Alex hosts a charity wine tasting. He usually has a selection of four to six wines at each and platters of food to go with it. Then he presents each and discusses with the group and individuals what they think of each and does a great job remembering what you liked for those purchasing moments later.

This is a private event for members of a different website that I am commenting on but if you are in town and stop he will take the time to sample some with you and give you the best service as well.

The best part of these tastings is that everyone contributes a Cow Do suggested 100 pesos and all of the proceeds go to a children's hospital in town.

Argentinia has excellent wines from Mendoza region and one of the best places you can buy them is in Corrientes avenue on the lower part (2 or 3 blocks going up from the river) where is a winery crowded with excellent and thousand of bottles of wine.. all kind of argentinian and a really good staff always ready to help u about wich is the best option

Of course should be cheaper buy them in Mendoza region wineries but in the other hand its a good point buy them like a present before to take off from Argentina

My personal favorite Malbec is from Saint Felicien, 2002. The Bodega Caten Zapata family implements microclimate blending in the assemblage of their wines. By using clone grape varietals grown in different soils, different altitudes, and different temperatures, the Catena team has successfully crafted a delicious blend of red berry and plum fruited flavor with a hint of spicy aroma: Malbec.

You can see from their website that Nicolas Catena doesn't currently export the Saint Felicien line of Malbec outside of Argentina. The Saint Felicien line is not available in the U.S. Bottles are sold at duty free for around $12.50.

The bottle in the middle of the picture is Matices de Abril Malbec 2002. Only 4,000 bottles were produced. It's being saved for a special occassion since I bought it when I was invited (like anyone else can go if you just ask) to La Faena's private wine cellar by their sommelier. It cost $35 U.S.