Valle del Tulum IG

The twelve departments that carry a Tulum-valley IG held 37,213 hectares of vines in 2024, about 94% of the province. Most of that is volume. Cereza covers about 9,600 of the roughly 26,600 hectares of wine and must grapes, and the table and raisin grapes, led by Flame Seedless, take up the rest.

The valley floor is flat, dry and sunny. San Juan's summer highs reach about 35°C, and a 2018 report to the Chamber of Deputies credits the low humidity, strong sun, sandy loam soils and good day-to-night swing for Syrah ripening fully here. That report counted 3,039 hectares of Syrah in the province in 2013. The INV counts about 1,930 now, so San Juan has lost a lot of Syrah.

I'm treating Tulum as the baseline for San Juan. A good bottle here shows ripe Syrah or Bonarda that still has some lift. For more freshness I'd look to the higher valleys, but this is where most of San Juan's wine comes from.