Mention Argentina to the average wine drinker and Malbec is the variety that everyone knows. Argentina’s vignerons have managed the neat trick of taking this relatively obscure French variety and, in their high altitude, sun-blessed vineyards, creating a new world-class style of wine.
If you’re not aware that Ushuaia is the world’s most southerly city by the time you arrive, you’ll learn pretty quickly. The capital of the fabled Tierra del Fuego is not shy about its ‘End of the World’ boast – it’s emblazoned onto anything that stands still for more than five seconds, from penguin-shaped pottery to all manner of nautical trinkets.
“You can’t go wrong” is an overused phrase, but perhaps it’s not that out of place when describing a visit to Iguazú Falls. You can’t exactly take a wrong turn and miss it. Yet there are some pointers worth knowing to get the most out of your stay. Here’s The Real Argentina’s “all you need to know” guide.
Although the differences between natural, live and organic foods are not always clear due to people’s unfamiliarity with the concepts, rest assured that cafés, restaurants, markets and shops using these terms are trying to educate the pizza-and empanada-eating brigade to show that organic Argentine food exists, even if it isn’t stamped.
While Chileans are investing in the Argentinian wine industry, there is a strange lack of investment the other way around. Andrew Catchpole investigates.
Unlike 1983 (the cathartic first free elections after seven years of military rule), 2003 (the return to some kind of normality after the economic emergencies of 2001/2) and 2007 (the swearing-in of Argentina’s first elected woman president), 2011 isn’t shaping up to be a “transformational” election. Rather, 23 October 2011 will be a day when voters wrestle with one of the oldest and most straightforward dilemmas in electoral politics: namely, do we want more of the same, or shall we give someone else a whirl?
Considering that barely a ball has been kicked in Argentina in the last couple of weeks, it’s been a tumultuous time for the Argentinian football. Firstly the sacking of the manager of the national team after the lackluster showing at the Copa America in the homeland, the Tevez and Aguero saga at Manchester City and – oh yes – the biggest shake up of the Argentinian league game for, well, ever, to a system so revolutionary that no team will ever have to be relegated again.
When in Buenos Aires, open your eyes – and bellies – to the craze that keeps evolving: underground supper clubs. Last week I dined with an ousted cult from Alabama, a brain surgeon on sabbatical and an ex-prostitute from Amsterdam – complete with mini-me poodle (still a poodle). Welcome to the puerta cerrada (closed-door) dining…