Argentine Wines: San Juan Province

Argentina is one of South America’s best-known wine countries. It is well known for its wine tourism.  January through March 2010, as part of our Las Américas trip we were most fortunate to visit Mendoza, San Juan, Salta and Neuquén wine producing provinces. This allowed us to do extensive wine tasting throughout Argentina. Needless to say, wherever there is good wine so there is good food. In general, the wines are quite good, and would measure up to any in California.  In fact, they would do quite well against any wines in the world.

Our first Argentine wine tour was in San Juan Province, which has the second largest producer of Argentine wine. While San Juan Province is more modest about its accomplishments in the wine industry than Mendoza it has gotten attention in recent years. The valleys of Ullum, Tulum and Zonda surrounding the capital city of San Juan have some interesting bodegas that are worth visiting. There are other promising areas throughout the province, such as Valle de Pederal that are most likely to gain in popularity in the future. San Juan Province is known for its Syrah, Bonarda, Cabernet Sauvignon; its sherry style wines, brandies and vermouth.

San Juan is about a two-hour drive north of the city of Mendoza. It was quite hot (our SUV was showing outside temperatures in the 100ºF plus range) when we visited San Juan. We had  read that the wineries in San Juan were friendly and less touristy; so despite the high temperatures we still decided to visit. We did make one compensation however rather than drive around ourselves in the heat looking for the wineries we hired a taxi driver to take us around. This was a good decision because the guy was great. The owner of El Rocio, the apartment hotel where we stayed suggested him.

Bodega Cavas de Zonda

Cavas de Zonda is a “Champagne” bodega just west of the city of San Juan. This sparkling wine bodega is considered one of the best in San Juan. Our thoughts are that it might have a hard time competing with even the most modest sparkling wine in California.  They also make some reds however, we did not get to taste any. Nevertheless, we bought a bottle of Merlot to taste later but would not recommend it. We would however recommend visiting this unique site. The bodega is located in an underground tunnel. The inside temperature is cool even on the hottest summer day.

Entrance to Cavas de Zonada © Spaswinefood

Bodega, located in an old tunnel created in 1928 © Spaswinefood

Buying a red to taste later © Spaswinefood

Bodegas y Viñedos Santiago Graffigna

The San Juan bodega that is most interesting in terms of tradition and size is Bodega Graffigna . It was established in 1870. Its museum, Museo Santiago Graffigna provides a one hour guided tour, which focuses on the history of wine making in San Juan Province. The reds they produce are quite good.  They age their premium wines for 12 months in either French or American oak barrels. We did buy several bottles of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. We now look for this label when buying Argentine wine.

Bodega Graffigna San Juan, Argentina © Spaswinefood

John tried several of the red wines produced by Bodega Graffigna © Spaswinefood

French oak barrel, Bodega Graffigna © Spaswinefood

American oak barrel used to age wines at Bodega Graffigna © Spaswinefood

Buying several bottles of red at Bodega Graffigna © Spaswinefood

Bodega La Guardia

Bodegas La Guardia is a small winery that has a small production for export. They also produce some vino patero mostly for local consumption. It comes in 5 liter bottles. They offered us four different red wines and two whites to taste. This was our first taste of Bonarda. According to our host, Bonarda is unique to Argentina.  It is a very smooth, fruity wine.  Later we tried other Bonardas at a number of Argentine bodegas.

Bodega La Guarda © Spaswinefood

Vino Patero, Bodega La Guarda © Spaswinefood

Sharon tries the wines at Bodega La Guarda © Spaswinefood

John examines a bottle of Bonarda at Bodega La Guarda © Spaswinefood

We loved the friendliness of San Juan. We had no problems finding great food in San Juan. We also visited a day spa down the street from our hotel apartment. The San Juan Tourist Office provides online information, which is quite useful for planning a wine tour,  locating accommodation and other services in San Juan.

Dinner with a good bottle of Graffigna © Spaswinefood

Graffigna 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve © Spaswinefood

Sharon and Jack,

Tasting Memories from the Las Américas Trip 

© Spaswinefood

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook