That link there shows you the top 300 or so cities in the world in descending order from most expensive. Buenos Aires comes in at number 252 on the list meaning that it is incredibly cheap to live here.

The irony, however, is that although rent, transportation and food are quite inexpensive when compared to the rest of the world, clothing, electronics, “exotic foods” (like sushi) and actually wine as well are all as expensive or more so than the United States.

Just look at prices for the ipod: twice as expensive in Argentina vs. the U.S.

Look at Levi’s, Old Navy or other “normal” brand clothing: also twice as expensive in Argentina.

Look at Alamos wines (from Catena) or Norton, Trapiche, Las Perdices, Mairena, or Mevi: all of these wines are comparitively 3 times as expensive in Argentina as in the U.S.Why is this? Well, in the case of electronics and clothing it is due to extremely high import duties as well as increased shipping costs. Don’t be fooled though, it is the import duties that account for 99% of the difference where shipping only accounts for maybe 1%.

So why is domestically produced wine (the only wine in Argentina) so much more expensive in Argentina than in the U.S. Keep in mind that I am comparing the same brands. There are many brands that exist in Argentina that you can get for less than a dollar. But none of those are sold in the U.S.

The reasons, according to my friends in wine circles, that wine in Argentina costs the same if not more in Argentina than in the U.S. comes down to three things: greed, import duties, and value added tax. Again, don’t be fooled, it is greed that accounts for 90% of this equation. But not just on the part of the wineries and distributors: greed of the government. A 21% V.A.T. is added to all goods. And in Argentina it’s added 3 times: once when the winery sells to a distributor, once when the distributor sells to the retailer, and once when the retailer sells to the public. This accounts for a 77% increase in the price of the wine due to taxes.

But that’s not all. Why is it that you cannot find any imported wine in Argentina? Literally I can count on my hand the number of restaurants and wine shops that offer something from outside Argentina. And I’m including Chile, which is their next door neighbor. A huge import duty (50% at times) exist on all imported wine as a protectionist measure. Could you imagine what wine would cost in Argentina if this duty was reduced to say 5%? The market would become much more competitive and local producers would have to reduce prices to compete. Right now that huge import duty allows them to inflate prices without consequences.

1. Carinae Vinos. Owned by Philippe and Brigitte Subra, a lovely couple from France, this boutique winery has lovely vines, a nice little tasting room and plenty of personality. Great if you want to get to know the owners and winery personally. They also have fantastic Torrontés and a high end blend called Prestige which Michael Rolland consults on.

2. Carmello Patti. What a character. Will talk your ear off and let you taste whatever you want. Best Cabernet-Sauvignon in Argentina and widely distributed in the U.S.

3. Andeluna Cellars. Absolutely gorgeous grounds and tasting room with intricately carved tables and chairs. Great Reserve Chardonnay.

4. Salentein. Here is a museum (literally) in Mendoza with a gorgeous restaurant with a view of vines and the Andes. Their tour is also beautiful with their vast array of barrels and ins and outs.

5. Weinart. This is a non-traditional choice but I put it on here because of the history of the cellar. It is one of the only wineries in Mendoza that has oak casks (of 2500L up to 10,000L!!) that they are actually still using and experimenting with. They also have vintages of Malbec back into the 60s and 70s so if you happen to run into Peter Weinart, make him an offer and maybe he’ll let you have a bottle.

www.anuvawines.com

In his recent review Jay Analyzes Argentina’s potential in the current market. He concludes that Argentina has a strong advantage in the recession to emerge a value champion. Low labor costs + affordable land = better wine in your glass and more money in your wallet.

 Currently the wine imported is of the highest quality. Jay warns that this trend must continue and Argentina mustn’t hasten to open the floodgates, bringing bulk lower quality wine could be troublesome for their budding reputation.

 As an American consumer myself, I encourage you to discover Argentine wine; best bang for your buck. These deals go beyond Malbec as well;

After living in Argentina for a year and only drinking Argentine wine I have found my favorite wines to be varietals other than Malbec. For example Palo Alto’s Pinot Noir- is complex with mushroom, earth and strawberry while Los Quimiles Cabernet Franc has a rich red clay and blackberry freshness.https://www.anuvawines.com/wine-store/red-wine/cabernet-franc/

Looking at Miller’s list he seems to agree # 2 on Jay’s list is CALLEJON DEL CRIMEN PETIT VERDOT 2005

FINCA LA LUZ 92 pts!

Minty fresh with dark fruit bouquet stopped me in my tracks. I swirled and sniffed several  times before taking a sip. A mouthful of dark chocolate and spice, sprig of mint and ripe berries excited my pallet and lingered on my lips.  https://www.anuvawines.com/wine/petit-verdot/callejon-del-crimen-petit-verdot-2005/

CALLEJON DEL CRIMEN MERLOT 91 pts!

CALLEJON DEL CRIMEN SANGIOVESE 2006

FINCA LA LUZ 90 pts!

A sinfully seductive bouquet of smoke, vanilla, and deep red fruits tantalize your senses. In the mouth layers of intense bright fruits of pomegranates, cranberries, raspberries, currants linger for days. This is a wine you’ll want to keep in mind for the holiday season!

https://www.anuvawines.com/wine/sangiovese/callejon-del-crimen-sangiovese-2006/

Take it from Jay; Argentina is producing some stellar wines. And don’t be afraid to try wines other than Malbec. Callejon del Crimen is a good place to start!

The wine is a blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. It has a fresh greenish hue indicating young fruit. A steady stream of bubbles and a light green apple, toasty, nutty bouquet draw you in. The mouth is crisp, and delicate fruit which lingers without being sweet

.At the Anuva Tastings we pair this sparking wine with whole-wheat water crackers topped with mascarpone, roquefort and green apple.Why? This pairing works because the creaminess of the cheese provides a base for the acidity of the wine to cut through. While the green apple mimics the tartness and crisp texture of the Hom.At home I would suggest pairing this wine with light appetizers (Melted brie topped with your favorite jam.) Or for this time of year a Fall Harvest Salad:

FALL HARVEST SALAD

Mix of spicy greens, blue cheese, dried fruits, apples, walnuts and roasted squash.The texture and light sweetness of the salad will play perfectly with the freshness and elegance of the wine.

•    Arugula large pack

•    Cranberries 1/8 cup

•    Raisins- Golden 1/8 cup

•    Toasted Walnuts or Hazelnuts 1/8 cup

•    Blue Cheese- crumbled 2 oz.

•    Green Apple- cut into wafer thin slices

•    ½ Acorn Squash, roasted with a pad of butter and brown sugar , skinned and cut into long strips

•    Salt and Pepper•    ½ lemon

1.    Prep Greens by soaking in a bath of cool water, strain and shake dry.

2.    Place greens in Large bowl sprinkle with salt and pepper and a bit of lemon juice

3.    Top with other ingredients and enjoy! Serve with fresh French bread or croissants.

Try this recipie and give us feed back! Or share your favorite wine pairing ideas!

1. El Primo (in Las Cañitas, Baez 302; in Palermo, Humbolt 1612). Simply great steak but also great parrillada completa (that is the real deal of all the offal (sausages and organ meats)) and a semi decent wine list. Wonderful outdoor seating right on the pedestrian street of Baez as well if you like people watching. Reasonably priced which for me means 50 pesos per person for steak, salad, potato and wine. Get there early (by 9pm, no later) if you want a table outside in the summer.

2. Las Cabras (Fitz Roy 1795), Las Cabritas (Migueletes 840), Las Cholas (Arce 306). All from the same owners with the same design and menu. Great for parrillada completa, only ok for steak. Other beef cuts are good and their provoleta (grilled provolone cheese) is phenomenal. Wonderful fries. No real wine list so get the house wine for 18 pesos per bottle. Great prices! My wife and I routinely go and have parrillada completa for two which comes with several different sausages, asado, vacio (flank steak), molleja (sweat breads), chichulines (intestine), riñon (kidney) and chicken (the absolute BEST CHICKEN) for only 55 pesos. It comes with fries also. Add wine and a salad to that and we get out of there for less than 80 pesos for the two of us. And we have leftovers for a full dinner the next day.

3. El Pobre Luis (Arribeños 2393 in Belgrano). The absolute best mollejas in the city. This is an “Uruguayan” parrilla, which means nothing really except that the sweat breads rock. They also have a specialty dish called a Pamplona which is either chicken, pork or steak wrapped around grilled onions, mozarella and bacon then grilled on the parilla. Reasonable prices and good wine list. Also, no tourists.

4. La Dorita. Really nice steaks and ambiance although a little inconsistent.

5. La Brigada (various locations: Recoleta location may have closed. Estados Unidos 465 in San Telmo). Expensive but perhaps worth it. Good service (and that is saying something for Buenos Aires) and they don’t overcook the steak (which is also something for Buenos Aires). They also have a lot of options and a good wine list.

6. Cabaña las Lilas (Alicia Moreau de Justo 516 in Puerto Madero). Unbelievably expensive. Tourist trap.

7. El Estanciero (Baez 202 in Las Cañitas). Expensive, good service, very nice and very clean. Nothing super memorable here though.

8. La Cabrera (Cabrera 5099 in Palermo Hollywood). This is a place that many have raved about. It is also a place that many have said has no reason to exist. My opinion lies right in the middle. The meat is decent, the service ok, and the ambiance fine. It’s in all the guide books so if you want a lot of tourists when you eat, great. If not, skip it.

www.anuvawines.com

On the contrary, that level of score will prevent a wine’s sale and distributors, who are in the business of selling wine, will have to sit on product or sell it at a loss.The problem with the 100 point scale is twofold: first, it creates an objective number from a subjective impression but people who read those numbers do not interpret it that way and second, it oversimplifies a complex subject. The public see the higher rated wines as definitively better. Period. Even when comparing wines with totally different characteristics: a 90 point Malbec is better than an 89 point Pinot Noir is better than an 88 point Shiraz is better than an 87 point oaked Chardonnay and as Mr. Heimoff points out, those 4 wines all pair with distinctly different foods not to mention each person will have a person preference for style and variety that have not at all been taken into account.

Rating wine is even more complex that rating other subjective things like gymnastics, diving, figure skating but at least those things have visually verifiable parameters and instant replay. The palate of a wine judge cannot be repeated or shared by anyone in a direct way (are we gonna get into structuralism and post-structuralism again? no.)So what’s the answer? Education?

Not likely. People don’t like to read in general (yes, I realize the irony of that comment in a written medium) and that’s why the point system works so well.I think that a simple answer is to redefine how the points are used or accumulated. I have two ideas:

1. Simply make a “good” wine something that rates a 40. Average would be 30, below average 20-29, very good wines 50-65, nearly excellent 66-80, excellent 80-100. This would create a lot more room to actually differentiate between wines. As it is now, I’ve never even seen any wine, anywhere that has a published rating of below about 84 let alone a 12. They simply don’t get into the press. What does a 12 wine taste like? This limits the usable scale to only about 15 points because nobody cares about the rest. How are the public or wine critics supposed to differentiate between tens of thousands of wines in only 15 points? So suggestion 1 is to actually make the whole 100 point scale usable.

2. The second idea is a bit more complex: break the scale into 10 parts. A scale of 1-10 for the “wine itself”. This would be a simplified version of the current 100 point scale. But then the rest of the ratings would be 10 points for each of the following: pairing with meats, pairing with cheeses, pairing with fish, pairing with salads, pairing potential (breadth), aging potential, or whatever you like, but it has to include the other facets of wine that the current 100 point scale does not. Now that I’m writing this I realize that it would require much more thought, but it’s an idea.

Your thoughts?

In English Mataderos translates to “slaughterhouse”. Mataderos is a section of Buenos Aires traditionally known for its live stock market and meat packing. Cattle were brought to Mataderos to be killed and shipped to other parts of the country. Some times Mataderos is referred to as the “New Chicago”.

Our day however had much more to do with merriment and gaiety rather than carnage and gore.

Every Sunday the neighborhood of Mataderos hosts a bustling street fair. Many buses run out to the fair on a regular basis; click here for details http://www.buenostours.com/feria-de-mataderos

We descended into masses. Street vendors, artisans, and entertainers packed in around the center square as passer bys made there way through. Unlike San Telmo we saw far less tourists, mostly just Argentine families spending a day outside for great food and shopping.

We were surrounded by smoking grills, traditional song and dance, artisan cheeses, massive knives, leather goods, mate gords, trotting horses, leather faced toothless gauchos with riding crops the size of base ball bats. At one point we even saw a performer charging people $2 to beat a fake cat with a stick.

We stopped to watch dancers perform Zamba, a traditional folk dance. Watch a video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VqGpqp3A0U&feature=related  Couples line up facing each other stepping forward and back. Quick steps take them circling around eachother as the women playfully wave scarves above their heads.

We were impressed by the quality of the crafts. Especially  the hand made engraved knives and leather bags. We wandered around admiring the artisanship before looking for the group. We were told “ 3 pm pink café on the corner.” And laughed when we discovered half the buildings are one shade of pink or another.

We found our friend waiting on the corner of the hot pink café directly across from the band stand. We all agreed to be hungry and headed for the smoke. Mataderos is a great place for parilla. You can also find traditional foods from the province like tamahles (steam corned husks stuffed with xyz) and locro (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9yk64pypK4s/RqP9oo4miJI/AAAAAAAAAB8/B-VC89Nom4U/s400/Locro.jpg a delicious meaty white bean stew). 

We opted for churipans and an $8 peso bottle of Vino Patero, Cab Sauv. The vendor informed us they produce less than 4,000 liters per year. Fruity and “boutique” but not quite the quality I have come to expect from Argentine wines. Still better than what I could produce in my basement.

Much more talkative after having been satiated we made our way to the track. We missed the spectacle but Gauchos, which are essentially Argentine cowboys line up and bolt like bats out of hell towards the finish line. Each carries a small metal spear which at full speed they must pierce through a metal loop dangling from the finish line. They charge closely past grandmothers, bundled babies and clumsy children, very exciting. http://img.youtube.com/vi/OCr_D0pyF-4/0.jpg

As they wrapped up gauchos paraded around on their horse as a few children pranced around on ponies and mules. We even saw a dog riding a horse. We made our way back home and finished out the afternoon with bottle of real wine; Cavagnaro Malbec. https://www.anuvawines.com/wine/malbec/cavagnaro-malbec-2004/

                The Palo Alto Pinot Noir does get those descriptors however, whether they come from sommelier Julia Merkel (http://www.dosmalbec.de/CONTACT.htm) “smooth structure, earthy silky mouthfeel with aromas of strawberry style, lush but still complex, not missing the freshness” (http://blog.entaste.com/?tag=pinot-noir) or the kind people at globalwinespirits.com “Shades of wet earth after aging in barrels, fruity, with a very nice persistence in the palate. With undertones of coffee and mushrooms, it fills the mouth nicely, as a good Pinot.” (http://www.globalwinespirits.com/catalog.WINE/Palo%20Alto%20Pinot%20Noir/31021216/%20PALO-en.jsa⁾  Despite such glowing reviews to break into the saturated and loyal Oregon Pinot Noir market with a foreign product you have to undersell the competition significantly.  If you see it on the shelves it is well worth the price, especially if you trying to keep your wine purchases affordable, but want to try a more complex Pinot Noir.