San Juan lies pretty much between the regions of Mendoza in the south and La Rioja in the north. With about 48,000 hectares, San Juan is the second largest wine growing region in Argentina, but has not yet been able to establish as good a reputation as the much larger Mendoza. San Juan is known more for mass wine production than for quality, but Penaflor and the Catena Group have shown that the region has the potential for top wine growing. San Juan is located about 650 metres above sea level and has - even further north than Mendoza - a warm to hot climate. The vineyards must be irrigated, and some of the water comes from the meltwater reservoir of the Andes, but also from the San Juan and Jachal rivers. Quality-oriented producers, however, are moving further and further up the Andes into cooler climates, so today in San Juan there are already vineyards at around 1600 metres above sea level. In addition to dry wines of simple quality and high-quality wines from international grape varieties such as Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon, San Juan is also a stronghold for the production of sweet wines, but also fortified wines made in the port style. In the vineyards, you can still often find the pergola system of cultivation, which gives quite high yields. However, wineries that focus on quality are converting vineyards to modern wire frame training and installing computerised systems for efficient drip irrigation.
