Moving to Argentina

Very new to the Board, and generally new to the world of wine. Hello all!

I have been given the wonderful opportunity to live in Buenos Aires for the next three years. The city is magical, as many of you have noted.

I write for two reasons. First, please feel free to reach out personally to me if I can assist with any information gathering down here!

Second, I feel like the next three years can be the time in my life when I really get to know and understand wine, at least what is available here. My question to you wise ones is : Are there particular Argentine wines that I should be on the look out for that are well respected but only available here? I am here for a while, and there is so much wine available, I really don’t know where to start.

Thanks in advance!

David

Since Argentina is on our short list for this year’s vacation I started asking around myself just yesterday. I got some wine advice here:

http://winedisorder.com/comment/56/9530/

About a 1/3 chance we’ll be there this Autumn (or Spring as they call it down there).

Alejandro Audisio appears to still be active in the Argentina (Buenos Aires) wine biz and used to post on the old Parker Board. My wife stopped in on him maybe 10 years ago when he owned a shop. I was quite pleased by the “restrained” selection of Malbecs…at a time when over-the-top offerings were all to common. He’s probably worth contacting. He should be able to provide some tips on where to start and things to try.

http://argenology.com/en/who-we-are/

RT

My wife and I love Buenos Aires. Do you know what area you will be living in yet? We have our favorite wineries in the Mendoza region but we by no means have tried them all. And a trip to Iguazu Falls is a must do while you are in Argentina. We found the Brazilian side to be the most organized and better for sightseeing. The Belmond hotel is in the Brazilian park area. I also recommend that you hire this young man to show you around Buenos Aires. He is amazing. Knows the city, the history. We walked many a mile in BA getting to know the main areas. Marcelo Mansilla https://www.ciceroneba.com.ar/

Carmelo Patti has been mentioned before. He is unique and worth a visit is you can catch him in.
Gimenez Riili
Carinae
Corazon del Sol (owed by Dr. Madaiah Revana who also owns Revana in Napa and Alexana in Newberg, OR)
DiamAndes
Dominio del Plata (A Susana Balbo label)
La Azul
Ruca Malen

We also have used an excellent wine guide in Mendoza – Peter Cubillos, https://peterwinetours.com/ His English is excellent. He has worked in wineries from scrubbing floors, tanks, and barrels, the laboratory, the vineyards etc.

Enjoy your stay in BA. it is an amazing city. As a country, Argentina has a lot of beautiful country to see: Ushuaia in the South to Salta and Iguazu in the North.

Dave,

You might get more responses if you also post this in the Travel and the Asylum forums.

Thanks to everyone for this fantastic feedback. After serving for years in Latin America, we were not expecting something as magical as Buenos Aires, and the advice you’ve given will really help make the most of it. Thanks for Peter and Marcelo, Michael, and for Carmelo.

Hope to enrich this board with my observations…

Dave, if you’re looking to get out of the city for a weekend trip head to San Carlos de Bariloche, it’s a Swiss village built around an enormous lake and it is breathtaking-my uncle lived there for many years.

CJ is right. Bariloche is beautiful. It is on Lago (Lake) Nahuel Huapi formed by the Rio Negro/Rio Nequen. It is near the Chilean border but because of the mountainous terrain, the nearest Chilean city of any size (Puerto Montt) is 200 miles away by road. Puerto Varas on the way to Puerto Montt is a nice stop too. Bariloche is about a 2 1/2 hour flight from BA. There are non-stop flights from both airports in BA but AEP (Jorge Newbery) will be closest if you live in the city. There is much to explore in Argentina. Also you are a reasonably short ferry ride (1 hr. 15 min.) to Colonia del Sacremento (fascinating city) Uruguay and 2 hrs. 15 min. to Montevideo.

Do it all. It is also easy to fly to and from Chile from BA. We loved exploring the area. Now to go back and see what we haven’t yet seen.