The 2025 harvest was the most extreme in Mendoza to date.
Since the winter of 2024, temperatures started reaching remarkable peaks. It was a very cold season, and the snow-capped mountains could be seen from all over Mendoza. In our Jardin de Hormigas vineyard, for instance, a record low of -14°C (6.8°F) was reached!
Spring was cool. At the beginning of budbreak, there were two frost events in which we did not detect an abrupt drop in temperature, but rather it dropped a few degrees below zero and lasted all night.
The vines flowered two weeks earlier than in other years, which could have posed problems related to frost or the typical Zonda winds of spring. However, this was not the case. Moderate temperatures prevailed, and the processes continued evenly and steadily. The fruit set was perfect, and the canopies were able to reach the wires without any problems this year.
In January, the heat wave was the most extreme ever recorded in the last 50 years. This unprecedented heat wave affected the Uco Valley and Lujan de Cuyo, the two valleys where we work. This was the moment in which wineries had to decide whether to harvest waiting for phenolic maturity or to harvest maintaining natural acidity. This decision will result in two extremely diverse typologies of 2025 wines.
We chose to maintain natural acidity, so we started our 2025 harvest on February 2, more than 10 days earlier than usual.
The first plot we harvested was in the Uco Valley, at over 1,000 meters above sea level. Terroir is not only climate, but also soil and other factors, and a stony soil is the first to reach grape ripening in these conditions.
Paraje Altamira is a place of extremes. By mid-February, we had already harvested all the Malbec, and only the Bonarda was delayed until the first days of March. A new winemaking concept is needed for this climate, but that is a topic for another time, when the wines are released to the market.
The qualitative terroir continues to deliver excellence, producing wines that reflect our style, which leans toward elegance and drinkability. Had we waited for the rains at the end of February, we would have ended up on the other side, in a style we have avoided and continue to avoid. We achieved the desired alcohol content, and the natural acidity was perfect for our wines.
In the 2025 vintage, the “electricity” went all the way to the end of the harvest and the emptying of each tank. The colors are magenta, indigo and blue. The fruit is unmistakably blue and red, and the underbrush feels like menthol. Each wine follows its aging path in the cellar, after some custom work in the winemaking process.
Cheers to the expression of Terroir and drinkability! Good 2025 to all.
The team at Altos Las Hormigas
