Wine from Salta
With the most extreme Vineyard Sites
Salta, which is located on the northernmost side of Argentina, is holding some of the most extreme vineyard sites in the globe.
The association of wines began in Salta when the Spanish missionaries planted vines here during the sixteenth century.
It’s been noted that these vine plantings were among the first vines of the whole Argentina. A unique thing about this wine country is that some of the worst roads will take us to the best vineyards on the planet.
Today, the region has the pride of carrying some 100-hundred old vineyards. Let’s see in detail about this wine region here.
Salta – Location and Landscape
Geographically speaking, Salta is situated at the latitudes of 26° 23’ South and longitudes of 68°33’ West.
As mentioned, this forms the northernmost part of Argentina with most of its vineyards sitting about a mile above the sea level.
The landscape of Salta is more of jagged red rock formations. The mountainous landscape of the region is found to be producing a rain shadowing effect to the vineyards below, thereby, ensuring clear skies and lower levels of precipitation.
Not only is this, on the beneficial side, the mountains also providing irrigation to the vineyards by supplying melt water from the snowy peaks.In general, the climate of the region is found to be hot and dry.
The daytime temperatures during summer are seemed to be reaching up to 100 degrees F, whereas during nights, they are dropping to as low as 55 degrees F.
The region’s mesoclimate is found to be benefitted by the diurnal temperature variations and this enables the wine grapes to develop phenolic compounds when at the same time retaining the acidity levels.
The soil condition of the region is found to be like that of Mendoza and contains more of sandy topsoil.
Vineyards of Salta
As the title suggests, the vineyards of Salta are the most extreme ones with many of them sitting at the lowest latitudes and highest altitudes in the globe.
This is the most interesting case because usually higher altitudes will be associated with colder climates.
But, the lower latitudes here mitigate this to give the vineyards a warmer climate.
Thus, these vineyard areas are found to be the best for viticulture.
We can observe that most of the vineyards are located on the mountainous terrain with a few of them reaching the altitudes as high as 3000 meters above sea level.
As the region is very close to the equator, this is more or less similar to Egypt.
Key Winegrowing Areas of Salta
The key winegrowing areas of Salta are Cafayate and Molinos each with their own specialties. Let’s quickly know about them here!
This is located in the Calchaqui Valley and is the best-known wine area of Argentina.This wine region has an international reputation for the quality Torrontes and Malbec grape varieties.
This also has the pride of being the highest place in the globe with suitable conditions for viticulture.
Both the red and the white wines of Cafayate are known for their fruitiness and varietal authenticity.
This is located in the Andean province of Salta and is famous as the region of world-topping vineyards. This region is again famous for its Torrontes and Malbec wine grapes.
Wine Grapes of Salta
As mentioned, we can find both red and grape varieties here. On the white variety side, the most prominent varieties are
- Sauvignon blanc
On the other hand, the red variety side is dominated by the varieties like:
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Cabernet Franc
I am Tharani, I have Bachelors degree in Biotechnology. I am passionate about the wine industry and continue to explore, learn and share and I bring in a wealth of knowledge and expertise to help you keep updated with best wines in the world. Stay tuned..
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