According to Área del Vino’s estimates, it is expected for 2016 that Colombia’s bottled wine imports will top USD 54 million, 25% more than 2012 imports amounting to USD 43.5 million.

Unlike other important Latin American countries in terms of wine imports, in Colombia, Argentina did not enjoy during many years a preferential tariff. Since 1997, Chile has had 0% tax rate thanks to the Free Trade Treaty signed between both countries. Just 10 years later, with Mercosur agreement, Argentina achieved the same tariff treatment, in comparison with the general percentage of 15% charged to other countries. During years, this situation has helped to strength the leadership of Chilean wines in this destination.

However, the position of Argentina has improved significantly in the last decade. In 2003, the share did not exceed 7%, with a higher preponderance of European wines behind the leader, Chile. Nowadays, Chilean wines have lost share but European ones have dropped almost by a third and Argentina around 25%.

Some studies reveal that although Chile’s wines are still the favorites of older Colombians, Argentina’s have become the best alternative for 20 to 30-year old people, who were recently involved in the wine world.

Nonetheless, in the past two years, this great progress of Argentine wines has come to a standstill. In the last few years, Argentina did not grow in share, but it did in value, reflecting the loss of exchange competitiveness suffered in the whole industry.

The response of Argentina’s bottled wine exporters to recovery competitiveness was the rise in average export prices. Thus, this led to a consolidation of the presence of Argentine wines in the highest price segments, in comparison with Chilean wines that are very well appreciated by Colombian consumers.

Data corresponding to the first quarter of 2013 do not show good forecast for this year. Compared with the first quarter of 2012, exports have plunged by 30%, thought a recovery could be experienced in the remaining months. Moreover, there are signs of the trend of rising prices above mentioned.

Eight years ago, Chilean wines were the most consumed imported wine in Peru. Then, thanks to the work done by Wines of Argentina during these years, the Argentine wine managed to attract Peruvian consumers’ attention, reaching the second position, and finally the first place being the most consumed wine.

We are not enough wine made in Peru to go with the consumption growth and the gastronomy of Peru. For that reason, imported wines are very important, accounting for 80% of the overall consumed wine. Of this percentage, 60% are from Argentina.

What are the most successful wine styles in Peru?

Of course, Malbec. This variety is already part of the landscape of our country.

Beyond this, Peru boasts a very profound and diverse food culture; for that reason, it is highly receptive to receiving wines from all over the world to pair with its gastronomy. Today in Lima, high-end restaurants, serving five-course meals, consume German, French, Italian, Chilean, Argentine, and Portuguese wines. Therefore, due to this wide range of products, Argentine wines in Peru have to maintain the achieved positioning, so as to not be replaced by, for instance, a German Riesling or Portuguese wines offering good value for money.

To face up to this, the best option is to offer what they offer, and that is “freshness”, an unusual characteristic in Argentine wines.  In restaurants, fight is not made with sticks but with fruit and freshness.

In front of this diversity of wines from all over the world, what do you think about Argentine wines’ position?

I think a very interesting range of varieties is offered to pair with diverse dishes. On the one hand, we find Torrontés, which is clearly an entry wine, for starters. Then, there are different good blends of white grapes and some Viogners that go very well with main courses of seafood. Malbecs are meat wines. And Pinot Noirs, if they are developed as up to now, or good blends with lower alcohol concentration, could be good partners to Peruvian food.

Who are the main competitors of Argentine wines?

German and Portuguese wines are the main competitors of Argentine products, as they offer highly competitive prices.

What is the consumption trend?

Consumers are very fond of sweet, fruity wines but they are leaning slowly towards dry wines, especially in the case of upper-middle class families in Lima. However, downwards there are a lot to grow, but wine has not been incorporated yet in the table.

Bottled wine, main product of wine exports in terms of both turnover and volume to this destination, reported a slight fall in its average price going from USD 38.2 per 9- liter case in 2012, to USD 37.9 in the first quarter of 2013.

Top 5 of Argentine brands

The 5 leading brands concentrated 21% of bottle wine exports to United States. According to ranking by vale (USD FOB), Álamos, Trapiche Roble, Catena, Tilia, Norton Reserva led the top 5 of the Argentine brands with the highest turnover in the first quarter of the year, as it was revealed in a report made by Área del Vino’s  Área Premium, of January-March period of 2013.

Álamos, the hottest brand in United States and propelled by Gallo’s distribution, dropped by 2.8% in its average price and its turnover went up 66% in the measured period compared with 2012.

Alejandro Vigil, Catena Zapata’s winemaker, pointed out: “first of all, the positioning of this brand as well as Esmeralda is due to the fact that the quality of the products was always better than that of any other wine of the segment. Secondly, they counted on a good distribution logistic in exportation. And undoubtedly, the most important is the consistency year after year, for which consumers do not hesitate to buy a bottle.”

Trapiche Roble, ranked #2, raised its price by just USD 0.20, increasing the turnover by 313% and 310% in volume.

Daniel Pi, Trapiche’s winemaker, stressed that Trapiche Roble brand is actually known in United States as “Oak Cask”, a tradictional wine of the winery being present in this market for over 20 years. As he said, “it is a wine specially created for US consumers’ palate, which in the first instance highly valued the aging in oak barrels of strong toasted character enhancing the oak aromas in wines. Currently, the product has evolved in terms of its graphic design, as well as its characteristics more balanced with fruit notes, granting oak a supporting role”.

Likewise, he added: “Oak Cask is a wine with a good value for consumers and I think that these factors (a presence of the brand established during years and its undeniable value for money) enable the brand to stay and grow in such a competitive market.”

Catena, in third place, suffered a 25% drop in value and 20% in volume comparing 2012 with 2013, although the company lowered its average price, which is today USD 61.9 FOB per case.

Tilia (a brand owned by Bodega Esmeralda) improved its performance as regards volume since it exported 22,520 more cases in 2013, pushing its average price up 9.45%.

Finally, Norton Reserva holds the fifth place. Its FOB price fell by 11.5%, from USD 61.7 per case to USD 54.6, and thus managed a 96% growth in volume and 73% in value.

García explained: “we have ended with a very good yield in terms of both quantity and quality, which is the aspect of the 2013 harvest worthy to be stressed”. Likewise, he added that they expected a crop exceeding the volume of 2012, but on the basis that the last year gave a very poor yield.  The current harvest should be compared with that of 2005, 2006, 2008 or 2011, that is to say, above 28 and a half million of quintals.

Then, he commented that “this is an average and standard harvest, which is very good for producers as they have volumes that compensate for some price resistance, because larger amounts of kilos help producers to balance accounts. We always search for balances, aimed at getting good percentage of must, allowing in some way to keep stocks during 5 or 6 months, what will probably enable to maintain prices in 2013 and 2014.

Finally, as regards the domestic and foreign market, he highlighted: “We consider diversification the best alternative, not only in these markets but also in products such as fresh grapes, raisins, musts intended for concentrated grape juices, varietal wines, and high-productivity varietal wines used to make basic wines, enabling us to meet all the demand, even from countries that traditionally order mid-and-high priced wines, as well as from those ordering bulk products”.

See all figures of 2013 Harvest on:

http://www.inv.gov.ar/PDF/Estadisticas/Cosecha/Cosecha2013/InformeSemana22.pdf

The top of the ranking was reached by the Spanish winery “Muga”, located in the region of La Rioja, with an effectiveness of 99.76% in retweets. In tenth position, Norton winery, in the 25^th position, the list included Zuccardi, followed by Luigi Bosca in number 26. Downward, Tucumán’s Raffy winery was ranked #30, Catena (#41), Finca Las Moras (#42) and Familia Schoeder (#46).

An interesting data for community managers of these wineries is that Argentina along with Spain are the wine world’s two best positioned nations on Twitter, behind United States.

Source:http://servilia.com/Blog/2013/05/50-top-vinos-twitter/

La Poderosa: of Bodega del Fin del Mundo. Its name is in honor of the motorcycle used by Che Guevara and his friends, Alberto Granados, to go round Patagonia at the end of 1951. It is a red blend made of Cabernet Franc and Merlot 2011 –fruity, pleasant, easy to drink, with delicious aftertaste – and Viognier 2011 –aromatic and round. Its price is ARS 64.

Infinitus Gran Reserva Merlot 2009: sourced by grapes from old vineyards in Alto Valle. It is priced at ARS 237.

Primogénito Extra Brut: Patritti winery. It is a new Extra Brut, made from Chardonnay grapes by using the champenoise method. ARS 100.

Mantra Extra Brut: Secreto Patagónico winery. It is made of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from San Patricio del Chañar, using the traditional method of bottle fermentation. Its price is ARS 105.

Verum Reserva Cabernet Franc 2009: the wine made by Del Río Elorza winery, from Rio Negro, is available in wine shops at ARS 185.

Universo Blend 2010: NQN winery.  Universo blend has added 10% of Petit Verdot to its Malbec -Cabernet Sauvignon blend. It is priced at ARS 140.

Two more wines. They are two projects of Familia Schroeder winery, launch of which has not been defined yet. One of them is a delicious Cabernet Franc 2010. The other is an interesting sparkling wine combining the two Argentina’s signature varieties: Torrontés and Malbec.

Source: http://www.lmneuquen.com.ar/noticias/2013/4/7/estos-son-los-nuevos-vinos-patagonicos_183374

Souce: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/03/50-of-the-best-wine-bottle-designs.html

Tucumán owns a great wine history as other well-developed provinces such as San Juan, Mendoza and Salta. However, the region is recently getting positioned, driven by some wineries of this region.

In 1895, the area cultivated with vineyards in Tucumán was 290 ha, and as time goes by, this number was going down to 23 ha in 2002, and then it increased gradually. In 2009, it attained 49, and today this figure is 89 ha.

Calchaquí Valley, where this region is located, comprises Salta and Catamarca. The three provinces concentrate together around 3,000 ha of vineyards, accounting only for 1.3% of the total surface of Argentina. in this region, there are only 29 wineries producing wine (5 of them stand in Tucumán) of around 1,000 in activity in Argentina.

From the Wine Chamber, how was this activity driven?

It came from the need of producers, including winery owners and vintners, to group together in order to develop and position Tucumán’s wines in the national and international market. The chamber is made up of 19 grape producers and 5 wineries (one in Catamarca, three in Tucumán and one in Salta).

From the beginning, we have had the support of the provincial and national Government.

Besides, we have employed Dolores Lavaque (Consultora STG).

Have you made a strategic plan for the present and future of this industry?

Yes. In order to get positioned, we have made the Strategic Plan for 2012/2014, focused on marketing and wine tourism. For this purpose, some agreements were signed with Bodegas de Argentina (Wine Route) and Wines of Argentina (development of foreign market). Moreover, several training courses for Sommeliers and waiters were developed.

From the chamber and along with the executive and legislative powers, we have promoted the already sanctioned Tucumán Wine Law.

In relation to the creation of an identity, we have created the umbrella brand “Vinos del Tucumán” (Wines of Tucumán), web page of which is www.vinosdeltucumán.com.ar.

As regards your winery, Las Arcas de Tolombón, how is it today?

The company started in 2007. It stands between Tolombón and Colalao del Valle localities, and our estate is located between 3,100 and 3,800 meters above sea level.

The company counts on a qualified team: winemaker José Luis Mounier, in charge of winemaking, and agronomist Juan Leoncio Goitia, administrator.

Among our cultivated varieties, we have Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Torrontés, Tannat, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot.

What is the winery capacity?

Our vat capacity is 790,000 liters. We started making wines in 2010, around 450,000 liters a year, of which we bottle only a percentage and we intended the rest for other wineries of Mendoza and Salta. Bottled wines are put on the domestic market, especially in Salta, Tucumán and Buenos Aires. He have exported to United States, Norway and Brazil.

Currently, we make two wine lines: “Siete Vacas Origen” and “Siete Vacas Reserva”, priced at ARS 50 and ARS 100 respectively. In order to reach a better penetration into such a competitive market, using our mid-range and reserve wines, we will launch in June our entry-level line: “Lengua Negra”, at a retail price of ARS 30.