Major wine publications and respected critics have extolled the rise in quality across most wines from South America, particularly Chile and Argentina.

Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the continent have recently received top honors in several top-100 rankings from Wine Spectator, James Suckling, and Decanter.

To test the quality of recent offerings, the Carmel Valley Wine Club in San Diego at its monthly tasting (some 350 events since its founding) served eight wines in a blind tasting. Some 30 panelists tasted Cabernet Sauvignon and blends from Chile and Argentina. Jerry Feitelson, club founder and leader, noted that there has been significant investment and expertise in expanding vineyards and wineries in the best grape-growing regions in these areas.

The quality was evident as the group sampled wines from Mendoza in Argentina and the Apalta, Rapel and Colchagua Valleys in Chile.  There were some 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines, along with Cab blends that included Carménère, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Grenache, or Cabernet Franc.

Price range: $16 to $114. Vintages: 2018 to 2022. Alcohol: 13.5% to 15.0%.

South American Cabernet

Research found that Chile’s winemaking heritage stretches back to 1548–1554, when Spanish conquistadors and missionaries introduced Vitis vinifera to the region — cuttings believed to have originated from established Spanish vineyards in Peru, tracing ultimately to grapes Hernán Cortés brought to Mexico in 1520.

Chilean Evolution

That early stock, carrying the ancestor of the País grape, anchored Chilean viticulture for three centuries. A transformative leap came in 1851, when wealthy landowner Silvestre Ochagavía founded Chile’s first French-varietal winery, importing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Carménère, Sauvignon Blanc, and Sémillon directly from Bordeaux. Crucially, Chile was spared the late-19th-century phylloxera blight that devastated European vineyards, leaving it the only major wine country with largely ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines. A modern renaissance began in the 1980s when Spanish producer Miguel Torres introduced stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels. Today Chile ranks as the world’s fourth-largest wine exporter and fifth-largest producer, its 136,000+ vine-planted hectares stretching from the Atacama Desert to Patagonia.

Total production: approximately 11 million hectoliters in 2023 — the 5th largest globally and the largest in Latin America. Red varietals account for roughly 73% of total vineyard area. Cabernet Sauvignon is the No. 1-planted varietal in Chile, with about 40,000 hectares, about four times the next red, Merlot, at 11,000 hectares.

The Central Valley is the engine of Chilean wine production, encompassing the Maipo, Rapel (Cachapoal and Colchagua), Curicó, and Maule valleys. Maipo is Chile’s most prestigious address for Cabernet Sauvignon, while Colchagua is celebrated for Carménère and rich red blends.

Aconcagua sits north of Santiago and includes the warm Aconcagua Valley (known for structured Cabernet) and the cool-climate Casablanca and San Antonio valleys, which have become Chile’s premier addresses for Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir.

Bordeaux Varietals to Mendoza

Argentina’s winemaking story begins in 1556, when Father Juan Cedrón brought vine cuttings from the Chilean Central Valley to what are now the San Juan and Mendoza wine regions. Santiago del Estero became the site of the first recorded commercial vineyard the following year, established by Jesuit missionaries needing sacramental wine. Criolla Grande grapes — high-yielding descendants of the original Spanish stock — dominated Argentine viticulture for the next 300 years. A pivotal transformation arrived in 1853, when French agronomist Michel Aimé Pouget, hired by Mendoza’s governor, established Argentina’s first agricultural nursery and imported French varieties, including Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. The completion of the Mendoza-to-Buenos Aires railway in 1885 spurred rapid industry growth, later amplified by waves of Italian and Spanish immigrants who brought winemaking expertise. Argentina languished as a bulk-wine producer through much of the 20th century, but a dramatic quality revolution in the 1990s — led by Nicolás Catena and fueled by foreign investment — transformed it into a global fine-wine powerhouse, with Malbec becoming its undisputed international flagship.

Total wine elaboration reached 10.87 million hectoliters in 2024, with red wines accounting for 68% of volume. Malbec represented 65.5% of wine export value. Vineyard area: approximately 200,000 hectares across 22,039 estates. Malbec is No. 1, at 402,000+ metric tons (2024); followed by Bonarda (Douce Noir), 177,000 metric tons; Syrah-Shiraz, 95,000 metric tons; and Cabernet Sauvignon, 70,000 metric tons.

Mendoza is by far the dominant force, producing over 60% of all Argentine wine and an even higher share of exports. It’s home to the country’s most celebrated sub-regions — Luján de Cuyo, the Uco Valley (with its prized Altamira and Gualtallary zones), and Maipú — where high-altitude Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and increasingly world-class Chardonnay are made. I toured Mendoza in 2018 and reported on how it was moving beyond Malbec in making fine wines from a dozen varieties.

Catena 2022 Cabernet

Blind Tasting Notes

Here are my scores on the eight wines tasted blind at the Carmel Valley Wine Club event:

  • Mendoza, Argentina, Pulenta Estate Cabernet Sauvignon III Agrelo 2018 ($32). Mid dark garnet, rim variation, older edges, viscous (14.4 alcohol). Red fruit, mint, herbaceous, wood nose; mid acids; Mid plus tannins; mid plus depth; big grape extract; Long, semi hot finish. 16.5/91.
  • Mendoza, Argentina, Viña Cobos Marchiori Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 ($110). Dark, port like color, viscous (14.6 alcohol). Ripe grape, prune, pyrazine nose; low acids; mid tannins; Mid body; long red and black fruit, slight mineral finish. Hot. 16.5/91.
  • Clos Apalta El Condor, Apalta Valley, Colchagua Valley, Chile 2019 ($114). Mid dark garnet, viscous ( 15.0 alcohol). Red fruit, pomegranate, pyrazine, peppery nose; mid acids; Mid plus tannins; round, ripe, fat, grapey finish. 16/90.
  • Apalta Valley, Chile, Clos Apalta Le Petite Clos 2020 ($50). Sharp, mid-dark garnet, viscous (15.0 alcohol). Red fruit, mint, Cocoa, cassis, pomegranates; low to mid acid; Mid tannins; balanced, nice style, long balanced red fruit finish. My favorite of the night. 17/92.
  • Value Rapel Valley, Chile, Lapostolle Grand Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 ($16). Mid dark garnet, rim variation, viscous (14.0 alcohol). Weedy, herbaceous, red fruit, light spice nose; low to mid acids; low to mid tannins; thin, short finish. 15.5/89.
  • Mendoza, Argentina, Catena Alta Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 ($48). Mid dark garnet, viscous (13.5 alcohol). Cocoa, red fruit, ripe grape nose; low acids; Soft tannins; short red fruit finish. 16/90.
  • Value High Mountain Vines, Mendoza, Argentina, Catena Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 ($20). Mid ruby, rim variation, viscous (13.8 alcohol). Red fruit, big oak, mint, pyrazine nose; low to mid acid; Soft tannins; easy red fruit drinking finish. 16.5/91.
  • Value Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina, Susana Balbo Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 ($26). Dark Garnett, tears ( 14.5 alcohol). Red fruit, wood, herbaceous, Cabernet nose; low to mid acids; mid tannins; balanced; mint, red fruit, slightly hot finish. 16.5/91.