La Rioja Argentina IG

La Rioja is Argentina's third wine province, after Mendoza and San Juan. The INV counted 6,703 hectares in 785 vineyards at the end of 2025. Its 2024 provincial report puts 77% of the vines in Chilecito, and Torrontés Riojano takes up 24.6% of the province's vineyard area, ahead of Malbec at 12.9% and Cabernet Sauvignon at 8.6%.

It's desert wine country. Rain is under 200 millimetres a year, so every vine is irrigated from mountain rivers. In the Chilecito valley summer days reach about 35°C and nights fall to about 17°C. Soils are sandy and alluvial, and they get rockier higher up. Vines went in during the late 1500s, soon after the city of La Rioja was founded in 1591.

The La Riojana cooperative in Chilecito, founded in 1940, processes about half of the province's grapes. The IG is the widest one in the province, so when a label names a department or valley I'll note it. I'd look for Torrontés Riojano with enough acidity to hold up in the heat, and for the high Famatina reds.