While the sad, bad news is that wine consumption is dwindling in Argentina, there’s a chink of positive news that a humble family of grapes is exciting both seasoned drinkers and occasional or novice tipplers. 

The stat that Argentines would drink 98 liters per capita in the 1960s is repeatedly wheeled out when blaming the younger generations who choose to drink less or — worse! — no alcohol for this economically catastrophic decline in consumption. Argentina is, after all, the world’s fifth-biggest wine producer, and there’s a general feeling in the industry that there has been a loss of support as well as something of a loosening of the embrace of cultural heritage.

Those good old days hark back to a time when in fact consumers for the most part didn’t know what they were consuming. In 1977, Bodega Humberto Canale in Río Negro province gave ‘Semillón’ an identity for the first time by labeling it with the variety’s name, while ‘Malbec’ was commercially registered three years earlier. Ignorance of bottle contents was rife, and, given that the population was likely often blotto, it hardly mattered.

Today wine consumption is at just under 16 liters per person, a sad, bad historic low, and the favorite red continues to lead the pack, both at home and in wine glasses around the world. But inching its way forward is the Criolla grape family, with a new origin story worth sharing.

Rather than a single grape, Criolla is a family of........

© Buenos Aires Herald