MY PERFECT DAY IN QUEBRADA DE HUMAHUACA
After a light breakfast at Villa del Cielo in Tilcara (www.villadelcielotilcara.com) to help cope with the altitude, drive north for half an hour to meet winemaker Claudio Zucchino near Uquía (see p139). Visit his Finca Moya, the world’s highest vineyard at 3,329m above sea level. The bumpy but exhilarating 90-minute vertical excursion is only possible in a 4x4 and is astounding. With your head in the clouds, sample his wines with local charcuterie (£61) and astounding views of the Quebrada at Mina Moya, a former mine turned wine cellar.
Lunch
Head to Los Morteros* in Purmamarca, first stopping off at the Museo en los Cerros (www.museoenloscerros.com.ar), an adorable photography museum tucked
away in Huichaira and curated by Lucio Boschi. Try empanadas with spicy llajua chilli sauce, followed by grilled local trout paired with regional bottles. In the afternoon drive the winding RN52 up to the Salinas Grandes salt flats to take in Jujuy’s highest point – Cuesta del Lipán, at 4,170m above sea level. Ideal photo opportunities abound at the Salinas and in Purmamarca, known for its vibrant Cerro de los Siete Colores (Hill of Seven Colours). Here you can enjoy a short tasting with Gastón Cruz at his home-based bodega project Don Milagro (see p138). Or work off lunch wandering the Quebrada’s largest winery, Bodega Fernando Dupont (see p138). A 40-minute site tour costs AR$ 100 (£ 2), while a more detailed tasting teamed with charcuterie costs AR$2,600 (£ 50).
Evening
Return to Tilcara and take a 40-minute transfer up the mountain for dinner and overnight at Casa Colorada*, a charming hotel based 3,200m above sea level, managed by owner and top-notch guide Santiago Carrillo.
For details of entries marked with an asterisk (*) see p139
Quebrada’s largest producer, bottling 23,000 litres a year. Once his 5ha of Malbec, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon vines in Maimará were up and running, he enlisted winemaker Marcos Etchart of Bodega San Pedro de Yacochuya in Salta, who recalls: ‘Fernando planted vines on the mountain and went up, rather than down, to ensure he’d get grapes.’
The lofty view from the tiny wooden tasting room located at 2,400m above sea level is one of countless unique vistas in the Quebrada: to the east, zigzag brush strokes stain Mt Paleta del Pintor, while 3m-tall cardon cacti tower above vines. Fernando’s wife Amelia guides visitors around the vineyard and small winery, then through a tasting of wines such as the Pasacana blend, accompanied by local charcuterie and fresh goats’ cheese, and the ever-present breeze that keeps vines healthy.
While Etchart was the first oenologist to embark on the Quebrada adventure – he also consults at Claudio Zucchino near Uquía and Maimará’s Molino de Chicapa – he’s since been joined by an all-star winemaking cast. This includes Lucás Niven at Amanecer Andino and Yacoraite; José Luis Mounier at Tukma; Gabriela Celeste at Viñas del Perchel; and Alejandro Sejanovich at Huichaira. And although the Quebrada’s portfolio is slim at 20 wines, it’s promising: 14 of the wines were rated in Tim Atkin’s 2018 Argentina Report and every one scored over 90 points.
tasting in the mountains
What started out as Alfredo González’s hobby a decade ago has turned Amanecer Andino (see Facebook), located a few kilometres from Purmamarca, into a family-run winery business. Cross the Río Grande via footbridge – the only access during summer when the valley’s main tributary floods with Andean snowmelt – to sample the winery’s range at the stone-coloured bodega that blends seamlessly into the mountains. Alfredo and his son, Alfredo Junior, pair locally sourced charcuterie such as llama hams with their eponymous Bonarda-Cabernet Sauvignon blend at a tank-side tasting.
As well as working for Amanecer Andino, winemaker Niven joined forces with agricultural engineer Ezequiel Bellone Cecchin to assess Yacoraite (yacoraitevinos@gmail.com), located at an altitude of 2,777m and owned by US-based economist Alejandro Izquierdo. The vineyard’s debut will be Mallku 2017, a 10% whole-cluster Malbec that will be available at Yacoraite’s mountain wine bar, which is due to open in late 2019 and will stock bottles from the Quebrada and the northwest.
Old vines
Niven also lends a hand at Purmamarca’s Don Milagro (purmamarcawines@gmail.com). Here, winemaker Gastón Cruz tends 80-yearold Criolla vines – said to be the oldest in the Quebrada – as his grandfather Milagro did before him, to make wine for February’s fiestas. From a tiny, humble winery in his back garden, in full view of the Siete Colores hill, he proudly shares Carnaval Torrontés 2017.
Heading north, Viñas del Perchel (www.vinosdelaquebrada.com.ar) is located at an altitude of 2,650m and is another family concern. Now led by Mabel Vargas, only Dupont had contemplated winemaking here when her brother Javier planted 12 years ago. There was plenty of trial and error, thanks to its remote location, but the pros outweigh the cons. ‘The satisfaction is that we’re from Jujuy and we’re making wine here,’ she says.
Try Runa, an intense Malbec-Syrah blend, and the newly released Cactus, a 100% Tannat, on a short tour of the winery, whose facade
sports a colourful, street art-style mural of a picker reaching to the stars. The winery is due to start construction of a larger bodega further up the mountain, to allow for more wine tourism in the future.
Hit the heights
Meanwhile, Claudio Zucchino (www.ayni.tv) captures Jujuy’s vertiginous essence with an array of accolades. Not only is his Uraqui Minero Corte A 2016 sourced from Finca Moya, considered the world’s highest vineyard, he also owns the highest winery and cellar, Mina Moya, housed within a disused mine where his father once worked, located at 2,750m and 3,700m altitude respectively.
The winding track up is breathtaking, but the view from the mine itself has to be seen to be believed: sipping his red blend with your head in the clouds, looking deep into the valley below, is an unforgettable experience.
The Quebrada’s future is as dazzling as the sunlight, according to Sejanovich, who is excited about Huichaira (see Facebook), a 4ha vineyard at 2,710m above sea level. Its first vintages, including a co-fermented MalbecCabernet Sauvignon-Syrah, were made at Amancer Andino in 2018, but there are plans to build a winery in 2019. ‘Exceptional quality and styles are being made in the Quebrada. There’s plenty to look forward to,’ he says.
Looking ahead, other new projects are on the craggy horizon: Sofía Pescarmona of Bodega Lagarde is set to plant 1ha next to the Museo en los Cerros photography museum in Huichaira, while Casa Colorada at 3,200m is the site of Niven and Bellone Cecchin’s next venture; some 20ha will be added next year. As long as these boutique projects can offer visitors a way of sampling their wines in this unique terroir, the future is bright indeed.
Sorrel Moseley-Williams is a food, wine and travel journalist and sommelier based in Buenos Aires