Wine Law

WINE TOURISM IN ARGENTINA 417 range, due to its high altitude, influences the humid air masses coming from the Pacific Ocean, leading them to Chile, and even in case these air masses can overcome the obstacle and enter Argentina, the air is always dry and hot, as it is the case of the Zonda Wind 10 . On the other, the wet damps moving from the Atlantic Ocean occasionally reach Andean foothills. In general, rainfalls happen mostly on the country’s coast, arriving at the eastern slopes of mountains in central and northwestern Provinces. Thus, in general, the climate in the wine-producing area is continental, semi- desert with a dry, moderate or cold winter season, with summer rainfalls that vary from 100 to 300 mm per year, reaching, in some places, 400 mm. Nevertheless, the winter snowfalls in the Cordillera are an essential water reserve. The relative low dampness and the low rainfall are an exceptional condition for high quality and healthy grapes that avoid the development of cryptogamic diseases, making Argentine wine products virtually natural and free from pesticide residues. Moreover, the suitable temperatures and high level of heliophany all year round allow the different varieties of cultivated vines to perfectly complete their growth cycle, achieving industrial ripeness and optimal quality standards. As grapevines are a cryophilic 11 species, sub-zero winter temperatures are very convenient for their vegetative rest; however, out-of-season frosts and damaging hailstorms are restricting climate factors that, in certain places, cause loss of a significant part of the harvest. The soils, in general, are highly suitable for the growing of vines and, because of the extent of the Argentine wine area, they present different characteristics, from sandy to clayey, with a predominance of deep and soft soils, of alluvial origin, shaped by the dragging of material by the rivers, winds and the colluvial waste of the mountain formations. These soils are alkaline, rich in calcium and potassium and poor in organic material, nitrogen and phosphorus. In areas with scarce rainfall, it is necessary to have an irrigation system. Vineyards are watered through a complex network of channels distributing water 10 It is an extremely hot dried-up wind that blows in the West of Argentina, in the leeward of the Andean Mountains, between 38° south latitude and South Bolivia. It belongs to the group of the Winds that descend from the top of the mountain to the valley or the plain. It is like the “Fohen” of the Alps (Europe), the “Chinook” of the Rocky Mountains (USA and Canada), the “Berg-wind” of South Africa or New Zealand’s “Norwesterly”. More information available in : https://www.mendoza.conicet.gov.ar/portal/enciclopedia /terminos/Viento%20zonda.htm. 11 From Greek kryos (cold) and philia (affinity), it applies to the plants (or other living creatures like bacteria, fungus, etc.) which are resistant to cold temperatures or need them to survive. Grapevines are regarded as cryophilic because they can resist the low temperatures that are even beneficial in winter, see: http://www.diccionariodelvino.com/index.php/criofila.