Neuquén Wine Region Guide

Winemaking and regional classifications

Neuquén is a young region with enormous potential. Yet the progress achieved in less than 25 years is remarkable: commercial wine labels did not appear on the market until 2003. Moreover, less than 12 wineries are operating in the region, although interest in southern Argentina from outsiders has skyrocketed recently. The Incisa della Rocchhetta family, owners of Tuscany’s Sassicaia, are among the prominent investors who have brought land in Patagonia. Neuquén has met and surpassed early expectations from critics and consumers.

Today, Neuquén continues to thrive as a small-scale vineyard. It has several advantages: Every stakeholder in the zone is focused on making high-quality wines, so there is no danger of bulk producers sullying Neuquén’s reputation. This region is where overarching principles—a focus on premium quality and sustainable viticulture—have the buy-in from growers and winemakers. Since 2020, the region’s top priority has been to double the acreage certified as organically farmed and to increase global exports. It is a very laudable and attainable goal.

Meanwhile, Neuquén’s eclectic palette of wine styles are starting to appear on restaurant lists in Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and even neighboring Chile. From a consumer point of view, they offer a welcome alternative to classical Mendoza Malbec; Neuquén tends to yield a more ‘European’ interpretation of the grape, with drier tannins and perhaps less alcohol. The Cabernet Sauvignon, too, can be quite different – firm and angular, with a Bordeaux-like bouquet of cassis and a certain leafy quality. However, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Pinot Noir are local superstars, with old Pinot Noir vines showing exceptional potential.

Much excitement is coalescing around Burgundy’s signature red variety, and with good reason. Only the coolest sites in Chile can match Neuquén Pinot Noir for its elegance and bright, crystalline fruit. Familia Schroeder’s Saurus Pinot Noir exemplifies all these qualities: it is made with the same care and attention lavished on Grand Cru Chambertin. Schroeder’s consultant oenologist, Leonardo Puppato, greatly advocates using whole clusters in the fermentation – like Jeremy Seysses of the legendary Burgundy estate Domaine Dujac. After the harvest, whole berries are added to the tank and subject to a cold soak at low temperatures for three days. Pressure from the grapes at the top of the tank will split the berries at the bottom, releasing juice into the vat. In Burgundy, some believe that color is best extracted in the absence of alcohol and that tannins come from the post-fermentation maceration.

At Familia Schroeder, the juice is vinified with selected enzymes and yeasts in stainless steel tanks. Most winemakers believe that Pinot Noir must reach at least 85°F to extract reasonable amounts of flavor and color; Schroeder uses a relatively short post-fermentation maceration of four days (five is usually the minimum) to gain soft tannins. Malolactic fermentation will then occur in a mixture of tank and oak barrels. Contact with the lees (dead yeast cells) can be beneficial here, adding weight and complexity to the wine. However, it is easy to spoil Pinot Noir by leaving it in oak for too long.

In this case, only 40 percent of the cuvée is aged for just three months in wood, producing an exact and focused expression of the grape. Expertly made and released in small volumes, Saurus Pinot Noir is emblematic of Neuquén’s cool-climate terroir.

Geography and terroir

Here’s a fun fact about Neuquén: in 1987, a resident named Guillermo Heredia stumbled across a massive dinosaur bone on his ranch to the east of Plaza Huincul. This discovery not only put Neuquén on the map for paleontology but also sparked a wave of interest in the region’s unique terroir. Paleontologists conducted a series of investigations and made further exciting discoveries – they found numerous important fossils in Patagonia, including those of the world’s second-largest herbivore. At the end of the 1990s, the region planted its first commercial vines, flanked by the Neuquén River and its life-giving irrigation water. Thus, both dinosaur nuts and wine enthusiasts will find much to love in this up-and-coming vineyard!

Vintner cultivated approximately 1400 hectares in the wider region located southwest of the Pampas in northern Patagonia. The majestic Andes shadow the vignoble, centered around the province’s easternmost city at the Rio Neuquén and Rio Limay confluence. Conveniently, many of the area’s leading wineries can be easily accessed from the RP 7 highway that connects the city to Chos Malal. But, far more importantly, they have access to Andean meltwater supplied by the Neuquén River – this was one of the major pull factors for Bodega del Fin del Mundo, a leading light in local winemaking. Without access to drip irrigation, high-quality wine production would be enormously complex in Patagonia.

In a concise space of time, Neuquén has become associated with cool-climate varietals, particularly Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir. Indeed, a great deal of Argentina’s finest bubbly is made in Patagonia, as growers require base wines with high levels of freshness and acidity. This is relatively easy to achieve in Neuquén, where summer temperatures are often lower than equivalent conditions in Mendoza to the north. Meanwhile, low rainfall and persistent winds help keep vine diseases at bay and crops small. In other words, this is an exceedingly agreeable place to make red, white, and sparkling wine. Its potential is virtually limitless.

There is one major topographical advantage, however, that Neuquén lacks. In the subregions of Mendoza and indeed throughout Argentina, high-altitude viticulture is both commonplace and highly beneficial to overall wine quality; diurnal temperature variation (warm days and cool nights) helps to preserve acidity in the berries without sacrificing sugar and phenolic ripeness. Yet few climats (vineyard sites) in Neuquén rise to 350 meters above sea level – paltry by the standards of Jujuy in the northwest! Thankfully, Patagonia’s temperate climate and omnipresent winds provide adequate compensation for a lack of soaring altitude. The evidence surrounds us: Patagonian wines seldom blowzy or lack acidity.   These are bright, elegant manifestations of local terroir, strong in structure and character. For example, the aromatic profile of Neuquén-grown Malbec can be pretty different from the intense lushness often detected in San Juan.

But, while Malbec is Argentina’s flagship variety, it arguably plays second fiddle to Neuquén’s astonishingly good Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Both grapes have adapted to Patagonia’s stony alluvial soils with great ease – these well-drained terroirs are rich in minerals, much like the clay marls of Burgundy. The result is moderate yields and superlative quality fruit, handled with great sensitivity in the Familia Schroeder, Bodega Malma, and Bodega del Fin del Mundo cellars.

Neuquén gastronomy

There are several ways to kick back and relax in Neuquén, but our favorite pastime is strolling along the town’s tree-lined boulevards and leafy plazas before enjoying several glasses of vino in one of its numerous cafes. Likewise, the dining scene is among the most varied in Patagonia, where delicious pasta dishes—think fusilli al prosciutto and shrimp risotto—provide the perfect counterpart to Neuquén Chardonnay.