page_title: Argentine wine
section_title: Modern wine industry
hierarchical_section_title: Argentine wine / Modern wine industry
caption_attribution_description: Fotografía de viñedo incluido en la página de la Bodega Tapiz ( www.tapiz.com ). Los dueños de la Bodega han prestado su consentimiento para el uso de la misma.
context_page_description: Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world. Argentine wine, as with some aspects of Argentine cuisine, has its roots in Spain. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, vine cuttings were brought to Santiago del Estero in 1557, and the cultivation of the grape and wine production stretched first to neighboring regions, and then to other parts of the country.
  Historically, Argentine winemakers were traditionally more interested in quantity than quality with the country consuming 90% of the wine it produces. Until the early 1990s, Argentina produced more wine than any other country outside Europe, though the majority of it was considered unexportable. However, the desire to increase exports fueled significant advances in quality. Argentine wines started being exported during the 1990s, and are currently growing in popularity, making it now the largest wine exporter in South America. The devaluation of the Argentine peso in 2002 further fueled the industry as production costs decreased and tourism significantly increased, giving way to a whole new concept of enotourism in Argentina.
context_section_description: By the turn of the 21st century there were over 1,500 wineries in Argentina. The two largest companies are Bodegas Esmeralda (which owns the widely exported brand Alamos) and Peñaflor (which owns another widely exported brand Bodegas Trapiche). Between the two of them, these companies are responsible for nearly 40% of all the wine made in Argentina. The Argentine wine industry is fifth worldwide in production and eighth in wine consumption.
  The continued trend of the industry is to increase quality and control yields. Between the mid-1990s and early 21st century, Argentina had ripped up nearly a third of its vineyards but reduced yearly production only by 10%. This meant there was an increase in yields from 66 hl/ha to 88 hl/ha.
caption: The Tapiz Winery, located in Mendoza.
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