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A month is too long. 10 days tops should be enough.

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As I often say... please remember to drink your wines at the right temperature.

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And remember that the Decanter is your friend.....

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Some new sparklers....

Animal Brut
Maria Nature
Jota Dos Espumante

two very nice articles about catena:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...102000678.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...102000703.html

i do not have any catena or luca in my cellar, otherwise i would do a bottle tonight. had a bottle of trapiche medella last night. wife commented on the extreme and excellent complexity of the wine(which went right over my head, of course)

Here are some labels from Mendoza for folks to consider:

red wines
Cristobal Reserve Oak Shiraz
Triana Blend
Ricominciare Cabernet Franc/Malbec
Cristobal Reserve Oak Merlot
Don Tiburcio Blend
Ricominciare Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec
Lamadrid Gran Reserva Malbec
Benegas Lynch Finca Libertad
Matilde Lamadrid
Benegas Estate Sangiovese

white wines
Alma Negra Viognier
Rutini Apartado Blanco
Clara Benegas Chardonnay
Sophenia Synthesis Sauvignon Blanc
Rutini Coleccion Gewurztraminer
Luigi Bosca Gala III
Bressia Lagrima Canela

and a few sparklers also.....

Cruzat Larrain Rose
Cristobal Extra Brut
Alma Negra Brut Nature
Cruzat Larrain Nature
Baron B Unique
Escorihuela Gascon PP Brut Rose
JotaDos Brut

and finally some dessert wines....

Rutini Vin Doux Naturel
Stradivarius Porto de Magoas
Achaval Ferrer Dolce
Domaine St. Diego Oportuno
Zuccardi Malamado
Aficado Petit Menseng
Stradivrius Elixir d'Amore

I will vouch for the Benegas red wines and also say again the Benegas Estate Sangiovese is hands down the best Sangio I've tried anywhere.

The latest trend in BA is for wine tasting activities and that's because they're great! You don't need to travel all the way to Mendoza, yet you get to taste several excellent wines, can ask all the questions you wish and then go home with a few souvenir bottles and spend the rest of your trip ordering your tried and tested favourite wines!

indeed.... Benegas also makes a very good Syrah thats part of the Estate line together with the Malbec and the above mentioned Sangiovese.... ^

Although this post has been going on for a while now, the latest way to enjoy wines in Buenos Aires is by going along for a wine tasting session, I did it last week and its great! You can get to try plenty of different wines before buying, besides it being fun you'll make sure you go home with the right ones!

Indeed... wine tastings are a good way to get a feel of what Mendoza, Salta and Patagonian Wine Country have to offer - with no need to fly out to any of these locations.

However, for the true wine aficionados... please beware of tastings that offer a large number of wines at a too good to be true price. The reason to be wary of such places is that these tastings are offered on the basis of mostly pre-opened bottles. Having already opened bottles and sharing them throughout various tastings on various days makes tastings cheaper, but it is not the proper way to go by tasting wines.

Also, it best to try wines in a setting where you have some food available - this lets you try to see how the wines would perform during a meal.

Finally, I suggest folks make sure that when you do your wine shopping, you can get advice on the following important issues:
- proper packaging for wine if you will be checking it as luggage
- possibility of shipping wine to your country
- getting advice on which labels you cannot buy back where you live
- how to go by putting bottles of wine in your suitcase
- for US based folks, understand how US customs deals with wine
- understand what there is aside from Malbec (wine in Argentina is not only Malbec)

Yes Gaucho100k is right to point out the food factor, but most wine tasting venues include little apetisizers... such as bread, olives and cheese as they're usually held in gourmet type food pantries.

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For sparkling wine lovers here are some more suggestions:

Alma 4 Viognier
Alma 4 Chardonnay Roble
Alma 4 Bonarda
Alma 4 Pinot Rose