The Mendoza and San Juan regions of Argentina have been making wine since 1551 and 1569 respectively. It was the Jesuit missionaries who originally pioneered these high altitude regions to favour premium grape growing. Traditionally, wines were made in a very robust style in order to survive the long wagon ride to Buenos Aires in the east.

In the 1820’s, when Argentina was free from Spanish rule, there was an influx of European immigrants who bought their own grape varieties with them. By 1885 the train line was completed between Mendoza and Argentina, which further increased the importance of the wine region. Another immigration flux of Italians, French and Spanish in 1900 bought further grape varieties of good clone stocks and significantly improved wine making techniques.