Every now and then I try to dive into a region I don’t often touch. Could be Portugal or South Africa, whatever. These days I seem to want to try Argentinean and Chilean reds (would say Uruguay but hard to find). For myself, plus my lovely wife is not as discerning and I am in charge of keeping her wine shelf stocked. Normally with $18 to $30 bottles, depending. Sometimes less if there’s good QPR.
So, South America has a broad selection of stuff under $15. And a solid handful of high end “trophy” wines (what everyone calls “world class”). That said, the shelves of the stores I habituate in northern New Jersey have few wines in the, say, $18 to $30 range (I try not to buy from NYC stores simply because I am tempted to spend too much and there’s the siren’s call of buy $X and free local delivery).
What gives? Besides Catena or Casa Lapostolle? I guess I am looking for something just beyond generic. Typicity and all that. When you taste it you know it deserves to be $25 and not $15.
In Chile I have had decent results with Matetic, Clos des Fous, then Luyt for Pipeño. Otherwise, ehh.
In Argentina a little better luck. A few good Achaval-Ferrer, Henry Legarde, Weinert, Bosca, Mendel. Cobos or Balbo doesn’t really do it for me. The ones I like never seem to be stocked.
Any hidden gems or dark horses out there? Would rather buy on a reco than whimsy, albeit the latter does have its place.
I’ve been living in Buenos Aires for nearly five years albeit with a some trips back to the US and France. Before moving here I consumed about 98% from Europe and the other 2% from the US after some brief dabbling in Argentina and Chile in the early 2000s. I am not really familiar with what’s imported to the US from AR these days. From the producers you list, Mendel Semillon is a solid value here although not especially complex. It was about $6 last year but has increased due to a less favorable exchange rate in 2024.
The other producers you list are not interesting to me except for some Catena. Keep in mind the name Catena here is sort of like certain names in Burgundy. ie, there are many bodegas sporting the name.
A few that I like that I think you’ll be able to find are:
Riccitelli - Love the Bastardo but overall like everything he does.
German Masera - he has a few different labels: Livvera (Bequignol and Malvasia are the best), Credo (more expensive. The whites are best), Proyecto Circulares (Chardonnay is best).
Michelini - like Catena, there’s more than one Michelini but I like all. Matias Michelini is closest to natural and wild but they are clean and stable except the Pinot Noir feels a little bretty/dirty. Go with the cab francs from any Michelini.
Chacra - IMO overpriced but the wines are good. Try the Barda if you can find it for under $30-35. I guess it’s OK value around $30.
Zuccardi - Poligonos is the mid-range label coming in around $18. All done in concrete eggs. Three different Cab Francs. I like Paraje Altamira the best and then followed by San Pablo. Gualtallary is a little flabby for my taste.
As an importer, Brazos is doing good work finding the better, newer style that is fresher and w/o oaky
influence.
The trend here these days is very contrary to how most in the US perceive South American wines. New oak influence is almost nowhere to be found. Alcohol is often under 13%. I’ve had nice Pinot Noir from Zorzal coming in at 11.5%. My biggest criticism is a sameness to the wines. Most bodegas are just chasing the moderate alcohol/low oak trend. I am happy with that aspect but there’s little terroir or vintage variation. It all comes down to pick date. There’s some variance with altitude but even that can be adjusted to some extent by pick date to even things out. I’ve found spending up doesn’t really get more more quality or complexity, just a little more concentration but often not really worth the extra coin. I find spending between about $18-25 the sweet spot. There are some exceptions like The Italian Job and Credo that are notably more distinct and quite good but they’re now pushing $70-75 and I don’t think they’re great value there.
I’ll try to think of others. Try Cab Franc. I practically never drink Malbec here although there are some decent ones.
Forgot about this. Cara Sur is imported to the US. (Pretty sure by Brazos)
Zuccardi is involved with Cara Sur although not sure exclusively owned by him.
Really like all the wines. Zippy acidity. Don’t love pricing on the more expensive bottlings.
You said Balbo doesn’t do it for you but I think Susana Balbo makes some of the most compelling white wines in the world at their price point ($20s). The barrel fermented Torrontes and the Signature white blend of Torrontes, Semillon, and Sauvignon Blanc. Talk about perfume, whew!
Thanks so far for the recommendations, went to the local Bottle King here in northern New Jersey (name sounds bad but they have a very good selection at great prices) and picked up a few bottles to begin the experiment. Earlier today i went through the names using Wine-Searcher Pro (so much they thought I was a bot) and interesting to see how many of these wineries have very expensive bottlings as well. Took a couple of photos. Not sure if these prices dovetail with prices outside the US.
Domaine Nico Pinot for $45.
Altos Las Hormigas single vineyard Malbec for $70.
Of course, there were more than a few more in this general price range.
Kind of supports my initial impression that there’s a “hole in the middle” price wise with fewer choices around $25 to $30.
Given how soft Chile / Arg currencies are, it’s difficult to understand how the producers/agents expect to sell - realistically unknown - wines stateside at those high (to me) price points. If a wine professional like The Hanes is gathering suggestions it feels like it confirms that these are not known well.
I’ve read Laura Catena’s book and it seems like there are many interesting example to try, even among the limited assortment that would make it above the equator, but personally I find it confusing when they demand a plump price premium to country French wines.
hmm. The Domaine Nico bottle on the shelf is the Grand Pere which is considerably less expensive than the wine on the tag, La Savante. FWIW La Savante goes for about $60-70 here now. Haven’t tried that bottling so not sure if it’s worth it. Every time I spend much over $30 here I feel like the value declines with each dollar higher. La Pere that is on the shelf should be somewhere around $25. I paid about $20 or $21 here last week for the Mere which is the same price as the Pere. Pere sees 25% new wood as opposed to all 2nd year wood on the Mere. Pere also gets more sun in the vineyard.
I imagine you remember Altos Las Hormigas from a long time ago. It was really good value in the early 2000s with the regular bottling going for something like $9 in the US. With popularity they expanded production and, from what I hear (I didn’t follow the wine) the quality and value declined considerably. I’ve heard something about a revamping of the label with maybe a new winemaker and better farming but I haven’t tried them since early 2000s.
I was just looking at the Bowler AR portfolio. They seem to be the NY/NJ distributor for Brazos.
One the mid to low end - say ~$20-30 - these are pretty nice
Escala Humana (Livvera label) Bequignol
Montesco (Matias Michelini) Cab Franc - a little wild but I really like them. They feel the most ‘no BS’ wines down here.
SuperUco (Michelini brothers, not Matias) Good clean wines. I get the Cab Franc ‘Calcareo’ for about $31. Just a touch of new wood but done well. There is a higher end around $75 that I haven’t tried.
Cara Sur - They have some bottles around $70. Just go with entry level bottles around $30-35. I don’t love the value but it’s not way out of line.
-Carmelo Patti. Pretty sure there is only a Malbec and a Cab Sauv. He just buys fruit but I find the wines very pleasing because the are pretty old school in style. Not really distinct but decent value and I like producers who don’t chase every trend that comes along.
On the higher end is Per Se. Never had it but people that know that I like Euro style wine recommend this as one of the tops in the country.
Yes, I was surprised to see the rebrand of Altos Las Hormigas which was, as noted, a pretty good entrant in the low price point way back when. Haven’t had one in ages. They were mentioned in the linked article up thread. Not sure what they have in the $20 to $30 range as I have basically ignored the label.
Looking at things from afar it is interesting that Argentina gets more shelf space than Chile. And seems more diverse. In my mind I hadn’t really distinguished the two. Maybe Chile has a harder time marketing their wines or has chosen markets other than the US to focus on. Could be many reasons. Not sure what the market in Argentina is for Chilean wines. Or if they protect their industry.
Tangentially related my company has a lot of rich Brazilian clients who buy wine in the US, store it, and then take a few bottles home when visiting the US. Just makes me think what the market is in South America for their own most expensive wines or if they mostly get exported. Of course, can’t make blanket statements across countries and economies.
Argentina provides some sort of incentive to wine producers for exportation. Not sure just how or what. I think it’s a reduction or elimination of taxes. I notice that for the most part the wines are not priced much higher in the US, sometimes they are even less, and that is compared to the black market (really more of a grey market) exchange rate here.*
Unfortunately Argentina imposes brutal tariffs on just about every form of import. Electronics are especially bad. For example, Iphones start around 2k. Because of that, even wines just over yonder in Chile and Uruguay are so expensive here, if they can be found, that they aren’t worth buying.
I haven’t been to Brazil but I often see Brazilian tourists buying wines buy the case or even multiple cases here. I am told they also have some sort of import taxes which makes AR wines something like 2-3x more there than they are here.
*edited to add that the “blue dollar,” the name of the grey market exchange rate, really fluctuates. Between about late 2022 and all through 2023 it was nearly 2x the official rate which made things really inexpensive. At that time I was drinking nicely in the $6-12 range but mostly enjoying things in the $15-30 range that now go for $25-65.
