Step 4 of 5

Region โ€” specificity = quality

Bigger to smaller = lower to higher. A wine labeled “Argentina” is bulk-blend territory. Mendoza narrows it. Uco Valley narrows it further. Gualtallary — a sub-region of the Uco Valley — narrows it again.

The more specific, the more legal restrictions were followed, the more the producer cared.

Argentine hierarchy: Province (Mendoza, Salta, La Rioja, etc.); Region/DOC (Lujรกn de Cuyo and San Rafael are the only two DOC regions, plus Uco Valley); Sub-region/IG (Gualtallary, Paraje Altamira, Cafayate, Vista Flores).

A map-style infographic of Mendoza's wine regions with Uco Valley highlighted, Gualtallary marked specifically
Argentina's specificity ladder. The higher you climb, the better the wine usually is.