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Home » Food

Chile v. Argentina: Which Country Has the Better Wine?

Modified: Sep 1, 2022 · Published: Apr 6, 2015 by Ryan |

The question came up repeatedly as I prepared to make the biggest trip of my life. Better wine: Chile or Argentina?

I asked anyone I could find who had been to both places or were wine lovers like myself, and the responses were split right down the middle, plus one iconoclastic friend who picked Croatia. I was looking forward to finding out for myself.

A couple of the travelers I met during my wine tours near Mendoza
A couple of the travelers I met during my wine tours near Mendoza

Argentina

I'll start in Argentina because this is where I began my trip, in Buenos Aires, to be specific, but I was thinking about Mendoza the whole time.

The name has been on so many of the bottles of wine I have bought, and I had read how beautiful this part of Argentina was.

I loved the crisp air, the fall foliage, and the snow-covered mountains, and after taking all that in for a day, I was ready to head south to Maipú to rent a bicycle and do some wine tours; I ended up doing a half-dozen of them.

CarinaE was my favorite bodega in Argentina.
CarinaE was my favorite bodega in Argentina.

My first stop was CarinaE. Starting here was a big mistake, as it was the best bodega of the day; nothing else came close.

Here I took a tour, then got to the part I like the most, tasting the wine. I tried the Merlot, the Cabernet Sauvignon, the Malbec, and a cab/Malbec blend.

The latter was by far my favorite. If you want to try all these wines, you can do so by joining a wine club. Click here to find the best one. 

I went to five more vineyards that day, the ones you've read about in Dave's post and another that I cannot remember, probably because I had already fallen in love with CarinaE.

By the third stop, at Filosofos, when our host was telling us about the wine, its flavor, its texture, I started to think, "Yeah, yeah, just gimme a glass and pour it already."

At my fourth stop, Lagarde, the host was in even more of a hurry to pour the wine than I was to drink it. I thought, "Geez, at least act like you like being here."

As I made the shaky ride back to the bike rental shop, I kept thinking about CarinaE. But I still had half a mission, to find out which country has the better wine: Chile or Argentina?

Related: Best Wineries in Willamette Valley

The grape vines that create Pinot noir at Undurraga
The grape vines that create Pinot Noir at Undurraga (photo: Glauber Ribeiro)

Chile

I was in Santiago for almost a week but had only a few days for wine tours. I was already familiar with two wines from Chile, Casillero del Diablo, and Ritual, the latter of which was not offered as a tour at my hostel.

I decided to go with Undurraga, following a recommendation from my friend Joan. It was a good recommendation.

The tour was thorough, explaining the history of the bodega, the cultivation process, and, of course, the tasting.

I've always been a big fan of Pinot Noir, and naturally, I enjoyed the sample included in the tour. I believe a Carmenere and Merlot were part of the tasting as well, along with a dessert wine, a sweet white.

I picked up a bottle of the Pinot and the dessert wine, which I shared with my parents at my mom's 70th birthday party last year during their visit to Medellín.

But the Pinot was the best. It's part of the TH series, and I waited two years to drink it; definitely worth the wait.

The Finalists

Carinae Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec blend vs. Undurraga Pinot Noir. It could only be those.

The Decision

CarinaE. I'm not sure I'm ready to say Argentine wine is better, only that I like CarinaE's Cabernet/Malbec blend the best, partly because they sell it only at the bodega. I usually order Pinot Noir if I'm at a restaurant.

So I guess my answer is: I'll take Argentina if I want a Malbec, and I'll go with Chile if I want a Pinot Noir.

To the wine fans reading, what's your preference, Chilean or Argentinean? 

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Dave at Ahu Ko Te Riku on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile.

Hi, I'm Dave

Editor in Chief

I've been writing about adventure travel on Go Backpacking since 2007. I've visited 68 countries.

Read more about Dave.

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