On the Calle Sarmiento in the center of town, the offices of
ProMendoza are buzzing. ProMendoza is a trade association that
promotes not only Mendoza's wine industry but also other products
such as olives, garlic, fruit, and even petroleum. (If you're
interested, they'll also help you invest in such
Argentine growth
industries as rabbit breeding and microionized talc.)
According to the latest ProMendoza stats, fine wine production in
the region has more than doubled just since 1996, while bulk wine,
sold in Argentine supermarkets in small cardboard cartons, has
correspondingly dwindled by half. Clearly, something is happening
in Argentine wine. But numbers alone don't tell the whole story.
For that, you have to fly into Mendoza for a first-hand look, as I
did recently.
Mendoza isn't yet a tourist mecca like
Napa Valley, but it well
repays a visit. Vineyards spill down from the towering
Andes and
there's a crispness in the air that stems, partially, from the dry,
desertlike conditions and partly from the excitement of a new
industry growing before one's eyes. An ideal season to visit is
September through November, which is springtime in the Southern
Hemisphere, and you'll avoid the sometimes torrid summer heat.
Avoid harvest season, which begins in late February, since the
wineries and their staff will be preoccupied with wine production.
If you like winter sports, plan your visit in late June through
August: It will be cold in Mendoza, but there's phenomenal skiing
nearby at resorts such as Las Leñas. Regardless of the timing of a
visit, don't wait another season to try the region's wines.
At Bodega Catena Zapata, hospitality center of the Catena wine
group, I'm met by
Laura Catena. Laura is an Argentine native with
the easy, sophisticated stylishness of
Buenos Aires about her, but
she also has a
Harvard education and now makes her home in San
Francisco, where she and her husband are both emergency room
physicians at the University of
California at
San Francisco Medical
Center. Remarkably, she still finds time to act as the chief
spokesperson for Catena wines.