South America 2013 harvest report

With most of Argentina experiencing outstanding quality and Chile encountering one of the strangest harvests in their recent history, this year’s harvest has been remarkable.

Credit: Amanda Barnes

Across Argentina the flowering period and harvest went by almost without a climatic hitch. In Mendoza, where the sun shines on average more than 300 days a year, the real risks for winemakers are frosts, hailstorms and burning Zonda winds sometimes of biblical proportions. This year as harvest comes to an end, winemakers throughout Argentina are celebrating one of their best harvests yet – without any climatic irregularities.

A mild spring and a cool summer, in these usually hotter climes, also helped with more elegant ripening and allowed winemakers to harvest at their own pace. “2013 is a promising year, especially for the grapes coming from the Uco Valley,” commented winemaker Leonardo Erazu from Altos Las Hormigas. “A more balanced ripeness was achieved… with wonderful natural acidity and less potential alcohol.”

Although the vintage is promising in quality, winemakers are suffering with an altogether worse plague: the increasingly erratic and unworkable political situation. The government’s policies on import restrictions; AFIP’s [Federal Administration of Public Revenue] alleged unpaid debt of $20 million US to the wine industry; rocketing inflation (estimated at 35%); and an uncompetitive local currency is foreboding a potentially fatal noose around the wine industry’s neck, according to many in the trade.

“This has been a phenomenal harvest,” explained winemaker and owner of Dolium, Ricardo Giadorou. “This is good news… because all the rest is bad: we have hyper-inflation, the government wants to steal money from everyone and the international market for Malbec is slowing down.”

Across the Andes, the political situation is far less complicated; however the climate this year has presented its own challenges. Irregular weather, although not necessarily dampening

Credit: Amanda Barnes

quality, has made harvest a logistical nightmare for some. In general the weather has been cooler, maturation less even and harvest delayed.

Central regions suffered a very cold spring with rain, making botrytis a threat for poorly managed vineyards. Colchagua, Cachapoal, Maule and Maipo all warmed up to almost average temperatures resulting in a generally good harvest. However Casablanca and surrounding coastal regions trudged on with an abnormally cold summer and autumn delaying harvest by almost a month.

“Casablanca was complicated because in some varieties, like Sauvignon Blanc, [the region] had a bigger yield from the humid spring and a risk of botrytis,” commented Viu Manent winemaker Patricio Celedon. “We have vineyards in a zone very close to the coast and we harvested very late – like never before.”

Winemaker at Casas del Bosque Grant Phelps commented that this year in Casablanca it was the “wackiest” harvest for over a decade and the cooler weather will produce some fresh wines with great acidity, but quite different aromatics than usual.

In the North and South, the situation was pretty much in line with average although the droughts in the North are a concern for next year. “It’s been a very dry year,” comments winemaker Giorgio Flessati from Mayu in Elqui Valley. “We have had enough support from the drip irrigation so it’s no problem at all for this vintage but we are praying for the next because if we don’t have a good snow season in the Andes it will be a huge problem for 2014.”

Elsewhere in the smaller production wine region of Uruguay, harvest came around 10 days earlier than usual, although with a smaller quantity than the big yields of 2012. Luckily for most, the early harvest meant that only later ripening varieties were exposed to the unusual downpour in February.

“We had smaller production but very good quality,” explained Margarita Carrau from Bodegas Carrau that has vineyards in both Canelones and Rivera (bordering Brazil). “At the end of February we had some rain that meant we couldn’t get good Cabernet Sauvignon because it’s the last grape to harvest.”

2013 in South America is a harvest to keep your eye on: some wines for their atypical expression, others for their outstanding quality.