Located in the breath-takingly beautiful land of Argentina, Salta’s Cafayate valley is home to some cobbled together colonial splendour and one of Argentina’s most engrossing wine trails. Salta's Cafayate region is renowned for its distinctive and characterful wines, and when we speak of Argentine wine, it's usually Malbec from Mendoza on everyone's lips. However, Salta, the northwestern province, with its high-altitude vineyards and stark, lunar landscape, offers a wonderful alternative wine experience.
Cafayate is Salta's vinicultural centre and takes its name from the region's native language meaning 'box of water'. It is known for its Torrontés: a white wine with delicate floral aromas and a hint of spice on the palate. The wine owes its distinction to the intense heat of the day, contrasted with chilly desert nights, a difference that helps to maintain the grapes' intense fruit characteristics while ensuring a good level of acidity.
The Cafayate Wine Route is a journey through a spectacular gorge and charming villages with adobe houses and a fragrant aroma of empanadas on the air, leading to a finale at the many boutique wineries that dot this fertile, sun-kissed valley. The region and its vineyards sit at elevations higher than practically anywhere else in the world, resulting in robust, high-quality wines.
Several vineyards offer tours and wine-tasting sessions that let you delve into the wine-making process, from vine to bottle. Sightseers can sample the region’s diverse range of wines, all against a backdrop of the majestic Calchaquí Valley's mountains. Wine-tasting with such a view is indeed quintessential Cafayate and is certain to elevate the senses.
In essence, Salta's Cafayate wine is an enchanting combination of terrains, a splash of history, blessed with sun-kissed grapes creating wines with an identity like no other. An aesthetic experience that blends the aroma of the wine with the allure of the Argentinian landscape, Salta’s Cafayate is every oenophile's dream.
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