Terrazas de los Andes cultivates high-elevation vineyards in Argentina’s Uco Valley
When you think of Argentine wines, likely you think of big bold reds or maybe a Torrontes from the north. And, if you think of refreshing wines, Argentina might not come to mind.
But there are a few wineries changing that, particularly in Gualtallary, a sort of enclave, if you will, within Tupungato, in Argentina’s Uco Valley. That’s a lot of nesting of appellations, but if you get to the core, you’ll find wineries leveraging the altitude here—some up to nearly 5,250 feet above sea level, considered to be the highest extremes.
The aptly named Terrazas de los Andes (terrace of the Andes) is one such winery, going even higher and making elegant wines where, literally, the earth meets the sky, and farming some 200+ individual sky-high wine terraces. The culmination of its sky-ward march, a prestige project called the “Parcel Series,” is the El Espinillo parcel at 1,650 meters (5,413 feet), which claims to be the highest vineyard in the Uco Valley. Here, Terrazas de los Andes sources the grapes for its single-vineyard Extremo Malbec—the final stop (for now) of its super-elevated vineyard cultivation. Previous “stops” along the way are represented in three single vineyard Malbecs from the Los Cerezos (No. 10), Los Castanos (No. 2) and Lican (no. 12) parcels that represent progressive altitudes from 3,510 to 3,947 feet above sea level.
Grapes for the Extremo Malbec are sourced from the El Espinillo parcel, which at 5,413 feet, claims … More
Wine industry publications are calling Extremo a new icon for both the variety and the winery, and calling out its unique aromatic properties—a reflection more of place than of grape and resembling a Pinot Noir in its aromatics and delicacy. Estate Director Lucas Löwi calls Extremo “the pinnacle of the ‘Ascension Journey’ of Terrazas de los Andes—a historical and geological progression skyward.” Wines from the numbered parcels in the limited production series retail for $99.99 and Extremo retails for $200 SRP.
The new wine was represented at the Naples Winter Wine Festival this year, the only winery from Argentina. A the winning bid for the Extremo package, which included 72 personalized 750-ml bottles of Terrazas de los Andes Extremo Malbec 2021 and 12 magnums of the same, and a customized trip to Argentina, yielded $500,000 for the charity auction.
The “Parcel Series” is an “Ascension Journey,” each wine reaching higher than the previous site.
The winery was founded by Frenchman Hervé Birnie-Scott in Lujan de Cuyo and the earliest plantings dating from 1929 make it one of Argentina’s oldest Malbec plantings. Subsequent projects have followed in other areas in and around Uco Valley under the Grand and Reserva labels..
The winery has been a good environmental steward: Its new lightweight bottle reduces CO2 emissions by 24% vs. the old packaging and it is the tenth winery in the world to receive Regenerative Organic Certified status (June 2023). It has reduced its water suage more than 60% though initiatives such as its “Guardians of Mountain Life” project, which also supports for the local community and the winery’s employees. In collaboration with other notable environmental organizations, Terrazas de los Andes is looking to develop “Glaciers for Life,” aims to support the conservation of snow cover, rivers and Andean glaciers in Argentina. In 2022, the UK-based trade publication The Drinks Business, named Birnie-Scott “Green Personality of the Year.”
