Wine Law

The relative dampness is low, which added to the low rainfall, is an exceptional condition for high quality and healthy grapes, avoiding the development of cryptogamic diseases. Therefore, the Argentine wine products are virtually natural and free from pesticide residues. Suitable temperatures and a high level of heliophany all year round allows the different varieties of vines that are cultivated to perfectly complete their growth cycle, achieving industrial ripeness and optimal quality standards. As grapevines are cryophilic 11 species, sub-zero winter temperatures are very convenient for their vegetative rest. However, later, or earlier frosts are a restricting climate factor in certain areas, whereas other adverse factor are hailstorms, 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, from alluvial origin, shaped from the dragging of material by the rivers, by the winds action and by the colluvial waste of the mountain formations. These soils are alkaline, rich in Calcium and Potassium and poor in organic material, total 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 from mountain snowmelt that forms rivers of irregular flow, and their summer floods are caught and stored by reservoirs and other waterworks. Artificial watering makes it easier to provide water to the vineyard in suitable volumes and times, depending on the vegetative condition of the grapevines and the desired quality. Watering is performed by different systems: furrows, mantle, drip, and sprinkler. 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 it to live. Grapevines are regarded as cryophilic because they can resist the low temperatures that are even beneficial in winter. http://www.diccionariodelvino.com/index.php/criofila.