Cafayate & the Calchaquí Valleys
Sky-high Torrontés & Malbec
- Soil
- Sandy, stony desert soils at staggering altitude (1,700–3,000m).
- Style
- Floral, crisp, dry Torrontés and intense, sun-soaked high-altitude Malbec.
- Top sites
- Cafayate is the hub; Colomé/Altura Máxima sit among the world's highest vines.
- Vintages
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
- Producers
- El EstecoEl Porvenir
Tip · Salta has some of the planet's highest vineyards (over 3,000m). Fierce sun plus cold nights give vivid, perfumed Torrontés and deeply coloured Malbec.
Value pick
El Esteco 'Old Vines' Torrontés · ~$18
Floral, crisp, bone-dry high-altitude Torrontés from old vines — Argentina's signature white at its aromatic best.
Collector pick
Colomé 'Altura Máxima' Malbec · ~$120 · 2018
From one of the highest vineyards on earth (~3,100m) — a rare, intense, collectible expression of extreme-altitude Malbec.