A wine lover's new perspective on Argentina
By Wine Atlas, Thursday 5 January 2006 :: Wine - Argentina :: #99 :: rss
REGULAR READERS of this column know I am lucky enough to be able to travel around the world visiting places where grapes are grown and good wine is made.
I have not made it to South Africa, but I have been to many other places, some of which have become real favorites and have lured Mrs. Olken and me back for vacation because of their beauty and the hospitality of the locals.
I have discovered a new place, and it comes as a bit of a surprise. Argentina to me has always been a strange brew of intrigue, politics, revolution, political and economic instability. On top of that, it has made an ocean of wine for years now, and most of it has been simply lousy. White wines kept in barrel or tanks until they
turns brown and have given up all
sense of vigor and vitality and redscooked to within an inch of their lives are hardly objects of beauty to my palate.
So, even as rumors of change have swept the wine world and various commentators have proclaimed a new Argentina, I kept harkening back to the bad old days when Argentine wine was barely fit to drink. Despite the obvious charms of the place, they just could not get it right.
Things change, of course, and what has seemed to change Argentina is globalization. Yes, that very globalization the Argentines blame for their economic chaos of the early 2000s and from which they are just emerging, is also the reason their wine culture has been revolutionized. The influx of new ideas and new money coming hard on its heels has led to changes in the ways that wine is made and marketed.
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