\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Argentine wine sales at home and abroad are slumping, following a global trend and in line with the country\u2019s drop in consumption across the board. While the country\u2019s winemakers and grape farmers are scrambling, the national government has eliminated nearly 1,000 regulations and norms for the sector, aiming to boost sales \u2014 a move that the sector\u2019s main players have varying views on.<\/p>\n
According to the National Institute of Viticulture (INV), from January to September 2025, wine sales in Argentina fell 2.5% compared to the same period of the previous year. Wine exports from January to October 2025 decreased 6.8%.<\/p>\n
The drop in wine consumption accelerated, but it is not new \u2014 while in 2021 Argentines drank 8.3 million hectoliters, in 2024 they bought 7.6 million hectoliters.<\/p>\n
Sven Piederiet, the CEO of Salentein, a staple winery in Mendoza, the country\u2019s main wine-producing province, said that there is a worldwide decline in alcohol consumption, as beer, spirits, and wine dropped in sales volume, mainly in Europe and the USA.<\/p>\n
Argentina, he added, was struck by a broad decline in mass consumption in 2024.<\/p>\n
While Salentein did very well over the last 10 years and was one of the few Argentine wineries that managed to grow in volume and turnover, they were also hit by the downturn in the markets over the last two years. \u201cIt\u2019s really a new panorama for us,\u201d he added and highlighted the competitive nature of the wine market.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Argentina is not [even] that competitive because of its appreciated currency, the tax burden, and high transportation costs, as well as the lack of free trade agreements compared to other countries, such as Chile and Australia,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Is the chainsaw the answer?<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger announced the repeal of 973 norms pertaining to the wine industry. The INV will now only monitor bottled wine, instead of the whole process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are leaving behind the regime in which the state sought to control every step of the production process and moving towards a model that focuses exclusively on ensuring the suitability of wine for consumption,\u201d the minister said in a post on X, adding that he aimed to give the industry \u201cflexibility and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everyone in the industry sees it the same way.<\/p>\n
Juan Barbier, a third-generation winemaker from the De \u00c1ngeles winery in Mendoza, said that the deregulation will benefit the industry by reducing administrative burdens and potentially lowering costs. \u201cI have friends at other wineries who tell me, \u2018I\u2019ve had the INV here from 8 in the morning until 6 in the evening,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Piederiet of Salentein said that the measures reduce \u201ccosts and bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe INV will no longer check that the grapes really came from Agrelo whenever the label says \u2018Agrelo origin.\u2019 Now the producer, the winemaker, or an organization could verify and guarantee the origin on their own,\u201d he added. As several regulations have been repealed, Piederiet claims they will now need to carefully evaluate how they were implemented. \u201cThey probably made some mistakes, which would then have to be corrected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Not everybody is excited about the new deregulations. The Winegrowers Association of Mendoza, which represents grape farmers, said in a communiqu\u00e9 that it received the news with \u201cdeep concern and unease,\u201d adding that the decree \u201ccould directly affect the minimum legal security that producers have to protect the real value of their product.\u201d<\/p>\n
The association stated that limiting the controls to the final product will weaken the monitoring of the process from the grape harvest, preventing the collection of data needed to define wine policies. Eliminating the grape receipt, they added, means axing the \u201conly official proof\u201d of farmers handing grapes to winemakers. According to them, the decision to make certifications of origin, vintage, and varietal optional \u201cweakens\u201d the identity and value of their wines. This, they claim, can hinder \u201cthe recognition of the producer\u2019s work and the price of the grapes,\u201d as well as consumer confidence in the authenticity of the product they are purchasing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has taken a lot for the quality of Argentine wine to be acknowledged abroad,\u201d Rub\u00e9n Flades, vice president of the Winegrowers Association of Mendoza, told the Herald.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, wine is not an imported product because it is cheaper here than abroad. People buy wine in Argentina because they know there is complete control over production and processing,\u201d Flades said. \u201cThe state is withdrawing, and that\u2019s going to make the whole situation worse, not better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Argentine wine sales at home and abroad are slumping, following a global trend and in line with the country\u2019s drop in consumption across the board. While the country\u2019s winemakers and grape farmers are scrambling, the national government has eliminated nearly 1,000 regulations and norms for the sector, aiming to boost sales \u2014 a move that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4140,414,42,4141,4142],"tags":[4137,595,96,4138,4139],"class_list":["post-12189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-argentine-wine","category-business","category-economics","category-salentein","category-wine","tag-argentine-wine","tag-business","tag-economics","tag-salentein","tag-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}