Bodegas Etchart 'Arnaldo B' Gran Reserva 2019

In 1850, one decade after the foundation of Cafayate’s city council, Flavio Niño y Plazaola decided to start winegrowing and built a winery in this unexplored location on the map. Fast forward to 1938, Arnaldo Benito Etchart bought this winery located at the foot of the Andes, which belonged to his wife, Carmen Rosa, and her family, and started developing it to become what it is today: one of the most prestigious wineries of Argentina. Bodegas Etchart is the oldest operating winery in the valley and one with the best proven record in Argentina: an authentic synonym for Cafayate and its high-altitude wines.

The Cafayatean terroir, with heights ranging from 1,700 and 3,000 meters above sea level, has vineyards that are among the highest in the world and are the key element of their identity. One of the most important aspects of high-altitude winegrowing is that the high temperatures and the daylight sunstroke are balanced with the fresh air that flows around during the night. This sharp thermal amplitude allows the grapes to reach maturity after accumulating a fair amount of the components required by quality wines: strong aromas and tannins in case of red wines. The difference between day and night temperatures also favors the development of fruits with natural acidity levels sufficient to make fresh and flowing wines. Today the winery has more than 400 planted hectares, of which 50% belongs to Torrontés, the white wine the Argentina is best known for.