Why Argentina & Chile Are World Leaders In Value Wine

Renowned wine journalist Robert Whitley gives a couple of good reasons as to why:

There are two good reasons why this is so. The first is simply the economics of buying land, growing grapes and making wine in South America. Everything from land to labor is cheaper. The second is a fluke of nature — Argentine malbec.

There is no question about it that the Argentine wine industry owes a lot to the likes of California's Paul Hobbs (he started working with Nicolás Catena back in '88), Italy's Roberto Cipresso (Achával-Ferrer) and France's Michel Rolland, but somehow the grape found in the Mendoza's terroir its perfect home (and today for that matter anywhere near the Andes):

From Argentina, as nowhere else, malbec delivers lushness on the palate, bold fruit aromas and a level of complexity that is absent in most malbec made elsewhere.

And he finishes with a good list of "trusted producers":

The following is a list of Argentine wineries whose well-priced malbecs have scored good numbers in recent reviews by well-known critics, including this one:

Alamos

Andeluna

Bodegas Salentein

Catena

Cruz

Colome (Cafayate, Salta)

Dona Paula

Famiglia Bianchi

Gascon

Luigi Bosca

Melipal

Norton

Terrazas de los Andes

Trapiche

Trivento

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