Today we're talking about high altitude wines. But what does altitude do to grape vines? Why does it matter to the quality of the grapes, and eventually the taste of a wine itself? I’ve hinted on it here and there in a few videos, but I thought it would be useful to dedicate a full video to it. High altitude wine: is it really better?
The higher you go, the cooler it gets. Grapes at higher altitude, like in the Calchaquí Valley wine region in Argentina or Penedès in Spain, will ripen slower and ripen less because it's cooler. This makes them retain more acidity, with fewer aromas of ripe and cooked fruit, and less sugar, therefore lower alcohol levels.
Higher up the air is thinner, so there's more UV rays that hit the vines. The baby grapes protect themselves by synthesizing more tannins in their skin, forming a thicker skin with more tannic protection, more polyphenols, and more resveratrol.
This process creates more aromas and flavors within those thicker skins. So you have more tannins, more intense flavors, and they don't get cooked by the heat because it's cold at night. The acidity remains in there. And those concentrated fresh fruit aromas are preserved.
High altitude malbec, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and torrontes have all gained recognition in recent years in Andean wine.
Did you know that Bonner Private Wines specializes in extreme altitude Argentine wines? Check out this special offer for our wine partnership: https://bit.ly/extreme-altitude-wines
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:21 - Altitude is cool…
03:33 - Night/Day Temperature Variations
06:06 - Altitude and UV Radiations
08:12 - Epilogue