Adam Erace / Virtuoso
Pain et Vin's expansive collection.
Pain et Vin
Where to raise a glass in South America's sexiest city.
Argentina has been a bastion of New World wine-making for half a century, but only in the last decade has the wine-drinking scene caught up in its resplendent capital, Buenos Aires. “It wasn’t typical to find a bar where you could order wine by the glass, where you didn’t have to open a bottle,” Mariana Aguirre, the delightful 32-year-old sommelier at the 165-room Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt, said while refilling my glass of Mendel Revancha Peón, a jammy, deep-violet malbec from Mendoza’s Luján de Cuyo appellation. “Now you don’t need to go more than three blocks to find one.”
From classy hotel cellars and new-school holes-in-the-wall to restaurants where every server is a somm-in-training, travelers have never been able to drink better – and with more diversity – in BA than right now. “In the past, the focus was the traditional, classical red wines like malbec,” Aguirre explained. “Now you can taste orange wines, rosé wines, sparkling wines. Everything that we produce in Mendoza, Salta, San Juan, and other regions, you can find in Buenos Aires.” Here’s where to get them.
Set for a wine and cheese tasting at Palacio Duhau.
Duhau Restaurant & Vinoteca
Duhau Restaurant & Vinoteca
Just in case you forgot why you were here, a freestanding cellar encased in dramatic charcoal glass greets guests at the entrance to Duhau, the Park Hyatt’s flagship dining room in the upscale Recoleta neighborhood. Aguirre curates the 300 labels inside this wine menagerie – all Argentine, except for Champagne and a handful of simpatico Spaniards – and chooses three favorites of the moment for a tasting beneath a chandelier of twisted mauve glass ribbons.
But the wine is only half the experience; wheels of local cheeses nap in a climate-controlled salon de queso just off the foyer, and Luciano Brusadin, the chef de fromage who recently relocated to Palacio Duhau from the Park Hyatt Mendoza, chooses three of his babies to pair with Aguirre’s vinos. The standout: Quesería Ventimiglia’s zesty cow-milk Toscana dabbed with dulce de leche, the lactic sweetness of which exalts the fruit character of the aforementioned malbec. And as if that weren’t enough, flaky empanadas (classic beef; Brie and caramelized onion) accompany the cheeses too. This is a tasting that renders dinner totally unnecessary.
Franca's head chef Mercedes Ferraro and owner Julio Martín Báez.
Franca
Franca
Why can the affable staff at Franca, a high-ceilinged, glass-enclosed corner space in Villa Crespo, make recommendations from the wine list so confidently? Everyone on the floor is a student of wine, explained my server (who was training for his level 2 certification).
Roughly 100 labels fill out the menu, divided by vibes, then by style: Expresivos & Ágiles (bright, refreshing easy-drinkers), Versátiles & Equilibrados (pours as comfortable with the wood-grilled haloumi-and-watermelon salad as the koji-ed Wagyu skirt steak), and Profundos & Amplios (the big boys). From the latter category, the amber Piedra Negra Arroyo Grande viognier still haunts me with its notes of hazelnut and jasmine and mile-long finish. Pair it with Franca’s bar of smooth pâté, plated with bitter greens and luminous lemon emulsion. The flavors (striking acid, profound umami) here and elsewhere on Michelin-starred chef-owner Julio Martín Báez and head chef Mercedes Ferraro’s menu are gutsier than one would expect from such pretty plates.
Order a second (or third glass) - Franca's menu is as diverse as it is delicious.
Franca
Naranjo Bar
A warm tangerine glow lights up the sidewalk in front of Naranjo Bar, a touchstone of BA’s new-wave natural-wine scene in the emerging Chacarita neighborhood. The name doesn’t reference the light, which lures the city’s coolest young oenophiles with moth-to-a-flame efficiency, but rather the cellar’s devotion to skin-contact and orange wines from producers such as cult favorite Pielihueso in the Uco Valley. Naranjo’s stock fills glass fridges in the bar’s front retail shop. Feel free to peruse here instead of studying the sprawling menu, or just stick to the tidier by-la-copa list, which recently included a Paso a Paso orange wine that poured like hazy Hi-C and tasted of citrus-blossom honey, sun-toasted hay, and fermenting clementines.
On a nice day, patio seating at Pain et Vin can't be beat.
Pain et Vin
Pain et Vin
Argentine sommelier Eleonora Jezzi and her spouse, Israeli chef Ohad Weiner, run this easygoing bottle shop, wine bar, and sourdough bakery in a Palermo space furnished with arched windows, exposed-brick walls, and a smattering of tables for walk-ins. The move at Pain et Vin, though, is to make a reservation for a guided four-glass tasting with one of the deeply knowledgeable staff – perhaps American expat James Stills, who handpicked a beguiling Otronia 45 Rugientes pinot noir from Patagonia for mine. Loads of context accompanies each pour, along with Weiner’s bread, Argentine cheeses, and a tomato chutney – evocatively spiced with cinnamon, coriander, and clove – that will engrave itself into your taste-memory brain. “He won’t even tell me what’s in the recipe,” Jezzi joked, “and I live with him.”
El Preferido de Palermo
Rescued from dereliction by the folks behind Parrilla Don Julio, the city’s storied and Michelin-starred steak house, the historic (est. 1952) Preferido de Palermo tavern embodies Porteños’ exuberant, athletic relationship with drinking and dining. This is the bar you wish you had in your neighborhood back home: chatty staff, casual but technically precise food – crispy chicken Milanese stretching to the edge of the plate; blocky french fries with peerless crunch; the smoothest house-made ice cream, served in chilled glassware – and plenty to drink.
In keeping with its Don Julio patrimony, the wine list is strong, but Preferido’s menu of vermouths (technically a fortified wine) gives a glimpse into another facet of Argentine culture. Once the beverage of choice of the Silent Generation, millennial tastemakers have made it trendy again. The vermouth service here is retro and charming: A pour of your choice (go for the Carpano bianco) comes over ice with a lemon slice, alongside an old-school siphon-style seltzer bottle for DIY fizzing.
Buenos Aires’ Best Wine Bars await....
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