2019 Mendoza Vintage: Elegance and Balance

The 2019 season ran from spring 2018 through the autumn 2019 harvest. Mendoza came out of a cold winter into a cool spring, then saw a quick escalation in summer temperatures, with peaks of over 40 C during January and February. A cooler March and April slowed down ripening and brought harvest times in line with the average, albeit with a slightly lower yield. For Argentina as a whole, the season was a cold winter and a dry summer. Catena Zapata head winemaker Alejandro Vigil told Decanter: "We expected the harvest to be larger than usual, but the combination of dry weather and cool climate resulted in yields slightly lower than the norm." Official figures put Mendoza's grape harvest at 17,108,180 quintales, 0.3 percent below 2018.

• Cold winter and cool spring in Mendoza
• Summer peaks of over 40 C in January and February
• A cooler March and April slowed ripening; harvest times in line with the average
• Mendoza grape harvest: 17,108,180 quintales, 0.3 percent below 2018

The annual harvest report, dated November 2019, puts Argentina's 2019 grape harvest at 25,198,862 quintales, 2 percent below 2018 and 3 percent above the average of the last 10 years. Red varieties rose 4.6 percent on 2018, while pink-skinned (rosada) and white varieties fell 10.5 percent and 2 percent. Mendoza accounted for 17,108,180 quintales, against 17,151,351 in 2018, 12,621,820 in 2017 and 10,196,052 in 2016. Malbec was the second-largest variety nationally at 4,303,510 quintales, behind Cereza, with 3,659,596 quintales of it from Mendoza vineyards. Wine production fell further than the crop: Argentina made 13,019,472 hl of wine, 10.3 percent less than in 2018, and Mendoza made 10,228,291 hl, down 6.5 percent, while Mendoza's must production rose 27.5 percent.

• Argentina: 25,198,862 quintales, down 2 percent on 2018 and up 3 percent on the 10-year average
• Mendoza: 17,108,180 quintales, down 0.3 percent on 2018
• Wine: 13,019,472 hl nationally, down 10.3 percent, with white wine down 23 percent
• Malbec: 4,303,510 quintales nationally, 3,659,596 of them from Mendoza

Decanter gathered growers' views from across the country. In the Uco Valley, Juanfa Suarez, who has 60 hectares in Altamira, told Decanter that "2019 is a great year" and that "the wines are showing a lot of character and freshness", adding: "It was a fresh and dry year, ideal for wines with lower alcohol and higher acidity." In San Rafael, where Decanter found white wines particularly promising, winemaker Leo Borsi said: "White wines this year have a much higher level of malic acid and lower sugar content. We'll see more austere white wines which can age well." Further south, Rio Negro experienced a similar weather pattern: "Overall, the summer was fresh with some brief peaks in temperature, the conditions were good," said Noemia winemaker Hans Vinding-Diers. In the north, Decanter reported a normal vintage with a good quality and even pacing of the harvest, and Piattelli winemaker Valeria Antolin said: "We were able to harvest our grapes in a much more condensed time, which enabled us to harvest at the right time for the variety."

• Uco Valley (Altamira): Juanfa Suarez called it "a fresh and dry year"
• San Rafael: whites with "a much higher level of malic acid and lower sugar content" (Leo Borsi)
• Rio Negro: a fresh summer with some brief peaks in temperature (Hans Vinding-Diers, Noemia)
• The north: Decanter reported a normal vintage with good quality and even pacing of the harvest

Decanter's report described balanced and concentrated wines across Argentina, and noted that some winemakers were calling 2019 their best vintage of the decade. In Mendoza, Vigil said: "The cooler climate made for highly concentrated wines with great colour and acidity." In Rio Negro, Vinding-Diers said: "The reds have a great colour intensity and are fruity and fresh with very silky tannins and the wines are very well balanced. It has been an exceptional year."

• Argentina-wide: Decanter described the wines as balanced and concentrated
• Alejandro Vigil, Catena Zapata: "highly concentrated wines with great colour and acidity"
• Decanter noted that some winemakers called 2019 their best vintage of the decade