Northern Argentina
Northern Argentina is home to the highest wine region in the world – in its north, where the altitude of the Andes moderates the effects of its proximity to the Equator. The intense sunshine that grapes enjoy results in them developing thick skins, and two grape varieties in particular, the white Torrontés, and the black Malbec, have developed attractive aromatic styles that are very distinctive from other parts of Argentina.
Each tour commenced in the city of Salta, with dinner at the José Balcarce bistro, and our first full day took us south, to the town of Cafayaté (through increasingly dramatic scenery). This is the main winegrowing region of Salta province.
Our visits included Amalaya, one of the largest wineries in the region, owned by the Hess family who also have vineyards in California. We were introduced to its wines and those of its sister winery, Colomé, which is at even higher altitudes, by winemaker Jorge in 2024 and viticulturalist Javier in 2025. Both visits were hugely informative (the story of the Donald Hess’s search for the perfect place to make wine from Malbec was fascinating) and concluded with lunch over looking the wide Cafayaté valley with mountains on all sides.
Yacochuya is the winery of the Etchart family, who sold their original business to Pernod Ricard in the 1990s. We met brothers Marcos and Arnaldo who told us much of the history of the valley and introduced their wines which superb. By contrast Finca Las Nubes is a tiny estate, owned by José Luis Mounier, winemaker at a number of famous wineries. We tried different styles of Torrontés, including a dessert wine, and Malbec, including a rosé.
In 2024 we had an evening at the El Esteco winery next door to the Patios de Cafayate hotel where we were staying. Around a roaring wood fire we watched the stars come out, tasting their wines accompanied by empanadas, cheese and meats – a truly memorable experience. In 2025 we had lunch with paired wines at Piatelli Family Vineyards, a very new estate with beautiful grounds and views across the valley.
Mendoza
Mendoza is one of my favourite wine capitals A bustling city with endless places to eat and drink, a wonderful country park nearby and the endless vista of the magnificent Andes. And it’s not all Malbec, out tastings included wines made from Chardonnay, Semillon, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Grenache, Tempranillo, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Our visits took place during harvest so at most wineries we were able to watch different stages of grape reception and fermentation, and regularly tasted from tank.
Each tour commenced at the Magnolia restaurant, one of Mendoza’s top eateries, setting a high standard for our gastronomy in the coming week.
A particularly interesting visit was to Bodega l’Orange, a tiny boutique winery run by Joanna Foster and Ernesto Catena, focusing on natural, organic and biodynamic wines. We visited the tiny winery during harvest and enjoyed a tasting of wines paired with dishes prepared from local ingredients including from their own garden. In 2024 we also visited the Catena family’s main operation, with its famous pyramid winery and learnt much about the rise of quality of Mendoza wines, from both the information shared and the wines we tasted.
In the region of Luján de Cuyo, slightly south of Mendoza city we visited the Las Compuertas and Agrelo sub regions, and learnt a great deal about the history of the region, and the intricacies of making wine here – including mastering water rights. Among our visits were Achaval Ferrer, one of the top Malbec producers in Argentina, and our tasting of wines from Luján de Cuyo, the Uco Valley and Eastern Mendoza (including wines made from vines over 100 years old!), was a wonderful demonstration of both incredible quality and nuanced styles.
In 2024 we visited Bodegas Cruzat to focuss on fizz, enjoying first hand demonstrations of disgorgement and dosage at the end of the second fermentation, and tasted their range including the Millesimé which we were assured had been confused with Dom Perignon in a recent blind tasting!
While in Agrelo, a highly rated sub region we visited Finca La Anita, where Denise, the winemaker, walked us through a vineyard planted with Syrah in 1947 and led us through a tasting from barrel.
We learnt more about terroir at Kaiken, the Argentinian winery of the famous Montes wine producers of Chile, and enjoyed a superb final dinner dinner.
In 2024 we visited Bodega Renacer, with its Tuscan inspired architecture and focus on a range of European varieties including passito wines – we saw the bunches of grapes drying on trays under cover, which would go to make an Amarone style wine.
In 2025 we visited the Familia Cassone winery and enjoyed an amazing tasting led by Federico, the son of the founder, who seduced us with his humour and charm – and of course the quality of his wines!
On each tour we spent a day in the Uco Valley, 100km or so south of Mendoza, where soils are rockier and the Andes are closer. Here wineries are much younger – the region has only come to the fore in the last few decades, with Michel Rolland, the famous French wine maker, particularly influential in its development. Our visits to Bodegas Azul, Zorzal and Bemberg in 2024 included winery tours, tastings and a fabulous lunch with views of the Andes.
In 2025 we visited the winery of Laureano Gomez, the ‘father’ of Pinot Noir in Argentina, and his son Agostino gave us a wonderful tour through the winery, tasting last year’s vintages that were about to be bottled, from tank and barrel, and seeing the a batch of grape must that had just finished fermenting being moved into the basket press. At Giménez Ruiili, we learnt a lot about the history of the region and saw something of its future – they are set in a 250ha estate shared by a number of wineries and plots of vines owned by wineries and small investors. Federico, who runs his family’s business was a great host, and our tour prior to (another wonderful) lunch had us hands deep in fermenting must!
Chile
All our tours were based in Santiago, Chile’s capital city, and Santa Cruz, a city a couple of hours’ drive south.
In Santiago we were based in the central Solace hotel, which allowed us to enjoy this most modern of cities. Each tour commenced at the Ambrosia restaurant, enjoying a meal made from fresh local fish, meat and vegetables, innovatively prepared and beautifully served. This set the standard for the tour’s meals, all of which were of extremely high standard. And of course was accompanied by Chilean wines – fresh Sauvignon Blanc and elegant Pinot Noir.
Maipo Valley is the historic base of winemaking in Chile, and home to many of its most famous wineries. Throughout most of the winegrowing regions there is a clear division in climate and wine styles between three zones that go from the Coastal Mountains, through the flat valleys of the Intra-Cordilleras (the source of the famous good value varietal wines that put Chile on the world wine map back in the 1990s), and the Andes. Our visits were all to the Andes zone, the most prestigious in the Maipo Valley, where some greater altitude, soils of different types and cooling influences from the mountains create perfect conditions particularly for black grape varieties.
All our tours included Perez Cruz, a magnificent family owned winery built to create cool conditions and evoke the curves of a wine barrel. It’s a big operation, but this enables them to really invest in their understanding of their terroir, and our tastings with head winemaker Germán Lyon were fascinating. In 2025 we visited Germán’s families winery, Vinos LOF, which was on a totally different scale, but making lovely wine and the perfect venue for lunch. In 2024 we visited Haras de Pirque, which we had also visited in 2015, and is now owned by Antinori of Tuscany – testament to its very high quality. We met the head wine maker Cecilia, and enjoyed a gastronomic feast for lunch.
The Casablanca Valley offered a complete contrast, closer to the ocean with significant maritime influence – misty mornings, more cloud cover, and cooling breezes. This allows aromatic white varieties to be grown, and very high quality ‘cooler climate’ style Syrah and Pinot Noir. Our visits to Kingston Family Vineyards gave us an insight into the way the valley operates – 90% of their grapes are sold to other wineries, but they make a small quantity of wine under their own label, which were super. In 2025 we visited Villard, one of the first ‘boutique’ wineries in Chile, and had a full on family experience, with a tasting of their wines that made us want to place orders with The Wine Society (where they are listed) immediately! In 2024 we made it further west, to the coastal region of San Antonio, visiting Matetic, a biodynamic estate, and Casa Marin, a pioneer of planting grapes close to the ocean.
A couple of hours’ drive south of Santiago is the Colchagua Valley, which has a fast-growing reptuation for some of the best wines in Chile. We visited Montes, one of the first to wineries to establish a significant presence, under the guidance of Aurelio Montes, and had wonderful tours seeing harvest in full swing, and tastings that included most of their icon wines. Their restaurant among the vines provided another gastronomic lunch. In 2024 we visited Laura Hartwig, a family estate where we met the winemaker enjoyed a tasting of their top class wines. In 2025 at Viña Maquis we learnt more about the history of the valley and tasted a series of Icon wines that are among the few Chilean wines released on the Place de Bordeaux – definitely a first!
On all our tours our final day was devoted to one winery, Viña Encierra, in the highly regarded Peralillo region. In 2024 María Ignacia Eyzaguirre talked about the family history, working with the Lafite Rothschilds to pioneer wine making in Colchagua (their joint venture Los Vascos was one of the first to gain presence in the UK), and on each tour we were armed with caps, aprons, snips and a plastic box which we were asked to fill by picking grapes! A wonderful experience topped off with a lovely asado lunch.
Uruguay
In 2024 I ran two tours to Uruguay, which can genuinely be described as an up-and-coming wine producing region, which has become something of a specialist in the red Tannat variety from southwest France, and is developing a reputation for Albariño whites. Based in Montevideo (across the River Plate from Buenos Aires), we visited the key sub regions, including Colonia, which surrounds the city. Here we went to Bodegas Viñedos y Olivares del Quinton, which as the name implies make olive oil – of very high quality, as we saw with the press in action. Tasting in the winery and lunch confirmed the quality of both wine, oil and food.
To the north of Montevideo we visited long established family business: Bodegas Carrau, Bouza and Beretta (owned by a family whose ancestors had made the eponymous hand guns!). Leticia Beretta was a fountain of knowledge, her enthusiasm more than making up for their tiny size (producing just 8,000 bottles/year).
The Pizzorno estate is run by the fourth generation of its founding family, and provided a great introduction to the wines of Uruguay on our first tour – our tasting and paired lunch confounded the myth that the country just grows Tannat and Albariño as we tasted wines made from Pinot Noir, Marselan, Petit Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot as well!
Castillo Viejo dates back to 1927, and we experienced a winery in the middle of its busiest time of year, even lending a hand to putting labels on bottles! Our tasting with their winemaker Alejandra again demonstrated the range of grape varieties that Uruguay is using, and the quality of their wines.
Maldonado is possibly the most exciting of all of Uruguay’s sub regions. To the east of Montevideo it is hillier than other parts, offering contrasting terroirs. At Alto de la Ballena we met Paula the owner, who presented us with their wines including a Viognier, and Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The most famous winery in Uruguay is probably Bodega Garzon, a flagship for the country that has established a strong export market, but is well worth coming to visit! Its architect designed winery and Francois Mallman restaurant make a real statement about the future for Uruguayan wines, and the wines we tasted were commensurate with that.
Our tours demonstrated the diversity of wines in South America, exploding myths such as it’s mainly Malbec in Mendoza, and Chile just produces simple varietal wines. Everywhere we visited had a focus and terroir, and while climate change is having an impact (in both Chile and Argentina water is almost the first thing that is discussed in a vineyard), we were inspired by the quality of wines we tasted, and even more imporantly the passion of the winemakers we met and the incredible generosity and friendliness of the welcome we received. It can’t be too long before we return…