Wine Law

Mount Aconcagua, located in Mendoza province, is the highest pick in all América (6.959 m). The area dedicated to viticulture constitutes a large stretch of variable slope, situated in the west of the country, at the foot of the high Andean mountains, from 22º south of latitude, to approximately 40º south of latitude. This large extension in north- south latitude, together with the topography of the numerous Andean valleys included in it, determines great organic variations that allow for the classification of well-defined winegrowing areas 9 . Due to the different climatic conditions, each of these regions can grow the best varieties, according to their needs and their characteristics, from the climatic and enological points of view. In most of the band specified, the altitudes are between 500 and 1500 meters over sea level. The Andes Mountains has a decisive incidence over the weather in a large part of Argentina, especially in the wine producing area. The Cordillera, due to its high altitude, determines that the humid air masses coming from the Pacific Ocean download their humidity in the Chilean land and in case they could overcome the obstacle and enter in our country, air is always dry and hot, as it is the case of the Zonda Wind 10 . The wet damps moving from the Atlantic Ocean occasionally reach Andean foothills. In general, rainfalls happenmostly 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 rainfall in the summer period that varies from 100 to 300 mm per year and in some places, it reaches 400 mm of rainfall per annum. Nevertheless, the winter snowfalls in the Cordillera are an important water reserve. 9 Fidel, Gabriel, op . cit ., p. 59. 10 It is an extremely hot dried-up wind which blows in the West of Argentina, in the leeward of the Andes Mountains, between 38 ° South Latitude and South Bolivia. 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 in Europe; to the “Chinook” of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada; to the “Berg-wind” of South Africa and New Zealand’s “Norwesterly”. More information available in: https://www.mendoza.conicet.gov.ar/portal/enciclopedia/terminos/Viento%20zonda.htm.