This episode is designed to lock Argentina’s regional hierarchy and business structure into an examiner-ready mental map. The narrative deliberately moves from macro scale to micro detail, showing how altitude, latitude and irrigation access drive style, quality and price across Mendoza, San Juan, La Rioja, Salta and Patagonia. Every regional example is framed through cause → effect → exam payoff, so candidates can justify why Mendoza dominates premium production, why Uco Valley commands investment and super-premium pricing, and why zones like San Juan or La Rioja historically skewed toward volume but are now selectively redefining quality through altitude.
Particular attention is paid to intra-regional differentiation within Mendoza—Primera Zona versus Uco Valley versus Southern Mendoza—because this is where distinction answers separate generic knowledge from analytical understanding. Numeric anchors (altitude bands, production shares, export volumes, market percentages, per-capita consumption figures) are retained because they are frequently rewarded in high-mark scripts.
The wine business section intentionally links economic volatility, export dependency and varietal concentration to strategic risk, especially Argentina’s reliance on Malbec, while also explaining why domestic consumption remains structurally important despite long-term decline. Promotional bodies, trade blocs and ownership structures are included only where they explain market behavior, pricing pressure or resilience.
Listen with the goal of being able to explain “why here, why this style, why this price” under pressure, not just to recall place names. If you can narrate Argentina’s regions as a series of logical responses to altitude, water and markets, you are writing at distinction level.
Looking for all episodes in one place?
I’ve created an evergreen “Start Here” hub for this unit so you can access the full series without inbox overload.
You’ll find the complete list of episodes, organized in syllabus order, here:
https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/wset-diploma-d3-wines-of-the-world
