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| ISBN-13: | 9781845336172 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Octopus |
| Publication date: | 02/13/2003 |
| Sold by: | Hachette Digital, Inc. |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 1 MB |
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THE WINES OF ARGENTINA, CHILE AND LATIN AMERICA
By Christopher Fielden
faber and faber
Copyright © 2001 Christopher Fielden.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0571205232
Chapter One
at the base of the Andes, which form an article of
and so far from spoiling, they prove all the better
from the journey. The wine is not carried in skins,
which so taint and disqualify the produce of some
districts in the mother-country, but is conveyed in
small barrels slung on each side of a mule and the
James L. Denman, The Vine and its Fruit, 1875
Argentina is by far the most important wine country in Latin America, both in terms of the area that it has under vines: 209,000 hectares as opposed to the next largest, 132,000 hectares in Chile, and also in per capita consumption: 40.99 litres, as opposed to 31 litres in Uruguay. Despite all this it is difficult to comprehend that on all vinous sides, it is but a shadow of its former self. In 1973, the production of wine in Argentina was 27 million hectolitres; in 1997 it was exactly hall this. In 1970 the annual consumption per capita of wine in Argentina reached 91.79 litres, now it is just 41. Like no other wine country in the world, the wine industry in Argentina has been through a torrid time and is only now just emerging from the ashes.
Geographically, there is no other country in the world that has a broader spread of vineyards than those of Argentina. They stretch in the lee of the Andes almost 1,600 km from Salta in the north to Neuquén in the south. In altitude, the vineyards range from 450 m above sea level in Río Negro to over 2,000 m in Salta Province. This means that there is a wide range of climatic conditions. As we shall also see the altitude of the vineyards plays perhaps a larger part than in any other wine country.
In many ways Argentina has much going for it as a wine-producing country. For a start, the family of the President, Dr Saúl Menem, has a background in the wine trade in the province of La Rioja. It has a good climate and no shortage of water for irrigation. Ir has no shortage of land available for the expansion of vineyards. Indeed, as has just been mentioned, the area under vines could increase by almost 50%, just by replanting the area that has been grubbed up since 1972. Land is cheap. There is also a healthy domestic market of approximately 35 million consumers, most of them of Italian or Spanish origin, with a tradition of wine drinking. All this makes the country an attractive proposition and the wine industry has attracted inward investment more than any other country in Latin America.
Are there clouds on the horizon? The main one must be the question of economic stability. Since 1991, the Argentine peso has been pegged to the US dollar in a bid to curb inflation and to give some solidity to the currency. Whilst there is no doubt that in the short term this has achieved the desired effect, as I write this, questions are being asked as to whether the economy is about to implode with dangerous results. A further problem is that of the wine that Argentina exports, three-quarters is just ordinary 'table wine'. This is no more than a commodity and, as a commodity, can easily be the victim of market circumstances beyond its control. For Argentina to be a truly major force in the world of wine, it must concentrate its efforts on the export of 'fine' wine. Here it is having some success, with sales in Britain, for example, rising fast. It is in this field that the future of the Argentine wine industry must lie.
HISTORY
The colonisation of Argentina took place in three different waves and from three different directions. The first colony in the country was established in 1536 at Buenos Aires, by the explorer Pedro de Mendoza, who arrived with a fleet of 16 ships and 1,600 men. However, largely due to the hostility of the local Querandí Indians, the settlement was abandoned and the Spaniards sailed up the Paraná River and built the city of Asunción, in what is now Paraguay. It was more than 40 years before the Spaniards established another bridgehead on the south bank of the River Plate.
The other two waves of exploration into what is now Argentina were financed by the wealth of the silver mines of Peru and Bolivia, and they came through the Andes. In 1553, Francisco de Aguirre, known as the 'Mother of Cities' for his role as a coloniser (and who has given his name to a major Chilean winery) established the first Spanish city in the country, Santiago del Estero. This became an important stage on the route between the food-supplying region of the Pampas and the colonial cities in the Andes. The third 'invasion' came from Chile through the Uspallata Pass and led to the foundation of the city of Mendoza in 1561, by Pedro de Castilla, and of San Juan, by Juan Jufré, the following year. There is little doubt that all these expeditions will have included priests, who most probably brought vine-shoots with them.
It is Juan Cidrón (of Cedrón), however, who is credited with being the father of the Argentine wine industry. In 1553, the citizens of Santiago del Estero complained that there was no priest in their community and asked that one should be sent from Chile. This was the man who was sent and he is recorded as having arrived with a crucifix in one hand and a bundle of vine-shoots and cottonseed in the other.
Early winemaking was almost totally in the hands of the Jesuits, who primarily made wine for their own needs. However, trade developed, mainly across the Andes, and, to a lesser extent, to Buenos Aires. Notwithstanding the transport difficulties of the seventeenth century, Antonio Vasquez de Espinosa could report that in Mendoza, 'there are very good vineyards from which they make quantities of wine which they export in carts via Córdoba to Buenos Aires'. This business must have been very risky, for apart from the natural hazards of a month's journey by ox-cart, entry and exit duties had to be paid to each province through which the wine travelled. In addition, the prices in Buenos Aires were fixed by the City Council. For example, in 1620, the price per arroba was 14 pesos for wine from Castilla, 12 pesos for wine from Paraguay and 10 pesos for wine from Chile (Mendoza and San Juan). In the same year the prices were reduced to 12, 10 and 6 pesos, respectively. By this time, there were officials deputed to check on the quality of any wine that was offered for sale in the city.
Morewood, writing in 1838, says, 'The genial warmth of the climate and soil in the valleys and plains under the Andes, are particularly favourable to the growth of the vine. Some of the vineyards, especially those in the vicinity of Mendoza, are said to contain 60,000 plants. The grapes are large, black, and highly flavoured, resembling the Hambro species more than any other. A duty of one dollar is imposed on every cask of brandy and four reals on every cask of wine. The wines and brandies of Mendoza, San Juan and Rioja, make their way to the Río de la Plata to the extent of 12,000 barrels annually, where they are bartered for English merchandise, besides which, large quantities are sent to Potosí, Santa Fé, and other places. In transporting these over the immense plains of the Pampas, oxen and mules are employed. The former to the number of six in a wagon, travelling about eight leagues in a day; and the latter laden with skins in pack-saddles, travel in troops together at the rate of ten or twelve leagues a day.'
In 1776, the Spanish government created the Viceroyalty of the River Plate and, for the first time, the provinces of the Cuyo (Mendoza and San Juan) owed allegiance to Buenos Aires rather than to Chile. This situation was comparatively short-lived, for in May 1810 came the revolution, in which the country gained independence. This led to a bitter internal struggle between the Federalists, who believed that each province should have autonomous powers, and the Unitarists, who demanded a centralised government, with the power being firmly held by Buenos Aires. Overall, the Unitarists continued to dominate the political life of the country. Naturally, in such circumstances, things were not easy for a provincial, rural industry, such as wine.
There were three important factors in the creation of a truly national wine industry. The first was the power of an ever-growing immigrant community used to consuming and, often, making wine. The first of these had arrived in San Juan as early as 1777. They were Portuguese prisoners, as a result of the war between Spain and Portugal, and they included a number of agronomists and viticulturalists. The real immigrant movement did not get under way, however, for almost another century. As Dr Emilio Maurín Navarro writes in his history of the Argentine wine trade, 'In 1874, the last year of the Sarmiento presidency, there arrived in Mendoza fifty-eight immigrants, who were received with enthusiasm by the city which organised a great celebration in their honour.' The following year there were 296 immigrants of whom 122 were Italian, 96 French, 30 Spanish, 18 German and 11 Swiss. It must be assumed that many of these came from wine-growing regions. (There were also eight Englishmen and two Americans.)
One has only to look at the histories of the major wine companies still in existence, to see that this was the time when many of their founding families first arrived in Argentina. Taking a random selection of brochures, I see that Juan Carlos Graffigna began producing wine in San Juan in 1869, Pascual Toso in 1880, Luis Tirasso established Santa Ana in 1891, Rodolfo Suter arrived in Argentina in 1897, Enrique Tittarelli in 1898 and the Pulenta family, of Peñaflor, in 1902. For every potential producer who arrived in Argentina, it must be realised that a host of potential consumers also arrived. These lived mainly in the big cities, for wine was an urban drink; on the farms, spirits were much more popular.
The second major influence was Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a native of San Juan, who became Argentina's first President from the provinces. During his presidency (1868—74), he established wine schools in San Juan and in Mendoza. He also brought to the country three foreign experts: a Frenchman, Aimé Pouget, who is credited with introducing many of the noble French varietals; an Italian, Schieroni, who established an experimental vine nursery with more than zoo varieties; and a German, Röveder, who ran one of the wine schools.
The final influence was the arrival of the Buenos Aires al Pacífico railway in Mendoza in 1885, with a line to San Juan established the following year. This meant that delivery times to the major market, Buenos Aires, were reduced from a month to two of three days. This naturally had a beneficial effect on the quality of the wine and also opened up the possibility of wines being shipped to European markets.
These factors all led to an increase in the quality of the wine and a move away from total reliance on the Criolla grape, which had been the backbone of the industry since its introduction by priests in the sixteenth century. The use of European varietals was particularly recommended by Tiburcio Benegas, who might be described as the creator of the modern wine industry in Argentina. He recommended also that wines should be made in European styles and in one of his books that appeared in 1885, he gave recipes for producing 'Burdeos' and 'Borgoña'. He was also the founder of the wine company, Trapiche.
Tiburcio Benegas was also one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Defensa Viti-Vinícola Nacional, which was created in 1904 as a vehicle to fight the sale of fraudulent or adulterated wines, on which taxes were rarely paid. This role is now the responsibility of the Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura.
In the early years of the twentieth century, the Argentine upper-classes still insisted on drinking French wines; it was the new wave of immigrants who kept the local wine industry in business. The first Argentinean 'Champagne', the brainchild of a German, Juan Von Toll, appeared on the market in 1905, and the writer Fernando Buzzi, puts its instant success to the proliferation of tango bars and brothels in Buenos Aires, providing solace to a predominantly male immigrant community.
During the middle of the twentieth century, there was a dramatic expansion in the vineyard area in Argentina. In 1936, there were 149,815 hectares of vines; in 1950 there were 175,013, but by 1977, at its peak, the figure had reached 350,680. Two other interesting peaks, were that in per capita consumption (1970 — 91.79 litres) and in overall production (1976 — 27 million hectolitres). Interestingly, as a result of government policies, which resulted in the planting of low quality vineyards in Mendoza Province, a second peak in production was reached in 1987. Since then the decline has been rapid in all three fields. This has been brought about, as in many other traditional wine-producing countries, by a combination of factors. The first of these is the rapid rise in the consumption of beers, fruit juices and soft drinks, such as Coca-Cola. These are all very much brand dominated and have vast marketing budgets behind them. Also it might be said that, in hot climates, such as that of most of Argentina, they provide better 'refreshment'. Secondly, and this also comes with a growing market with higher aspirations, there is a move away from 'table' wine to 'fine' wine.
It is interesting that the first peak of production, in 1976, coincided with a dramatic leap in export sales which in that year shot up to 45 million litres from just 11 million litres the year before. However, this is accounted for very largely by sales in bulk to Chile, presumably because of a short harvest there. In the same year sales of 'fine' wine increased from 2.05 million litres to 2.78 million litres, two-thirds of this was sold in just three markets in South America: Brazil, Venezuela and Paraguay. The United States was the fourth biggest market.
Despite the fact that this increase was short-lived, it engendered certain optimism with regard to exporting. An article in the Buenos Aires Herald of 12 October 1977, was headed 'Argentine Wines Among World's Best'. Similarly, a month earlier a feature appeared in the Financial Times of London about Argentina and it included an article headed 'Wine Begins to Travel'. It finished up, 'If the export trade in wines grows — as is likely as a result of Government efforts to increase the exports of all Argentine manufacturers — this should lead naturally to more discipline in the industry. The discipline will come all the more quickly if special efforts are made to export bottled rather than bulk wines and the Argentine producers see the necessity of establishing and safeguarding the names of the wines and their constant quality.' Here two recurring problems in the Argentine wine trade were pointed out, the lack of constancy of quality and the pragmatism with which the wines were labelled. These are problems that are still present, though to a lesser degree than in the past.
For the first time eight of the largest producers jointly attacked the British market, until then just an importer of cheap wine, the equivalent of approximately 10,000 cases a year in bulk. These producers put on a tasting for the trade and the press at one of London's most exclusive clubs in October 1977. Overall the reactions were favourable and for the first time the capacity of Argentina as a potential source for good wine came to be recognised. A period of expansion in sales began. This good work was totally destroyed on 2 April 1982 when the Falkland Islands were invaded. It was more than 10 years before the ground that was lost on that day, was recovered.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE WINES OF ARGENTINA, CHILE AND LATIN AMERICA by Christopher Fielden. Copyright © 2001 by Christopher Fielden. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.