Developments in Argentina
The Argentine wine industry has developed a Strategic Plan for Viticulture designed to increase the value of exports to $2 billion by the year 2020. This follows the lines of the coordinated plan developed in Australia (Strategy 2025). The Strategic Plan will be financed through special taxes levied on the whole of the viticultural community. Funds will be made available for market research, promotion, advertising, trade shows, special courses and seminars, technical assistance and activities to encourage dialogue between wineries and growers. Already the industry is growing, with 71 new wineries opening in 2003.

Trade in Argentina
Argentina is the world's 5th largest producer and 6th largest consumer, with most of the production sold into the domestic market. Only ~8% is exported. Argentina produces an annual total of 1,600 million bottles of wine and about a third again of must. About 65 million bottles of fine wine and 30 million bottles of table wine are exported, as well as an equivalent amount of unfermented must. Exports of table wine declined by about 50% between 1996 and 2000, and exports of fine wine increased about 50% to a plateau over the same period. Bulk production (<1200 wineries) uses the Criolla and Cereza pink grapes to produce sweet wine, but ~30 wineries use international varieties (Malbec, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon).

Argentina grape varieties: criollas
Half (45%) of the Argentine grapevine growing area is cultivated with local varieties generically called Criollas, which are distinct from traditional European varieties. They are thought to have originated in Argentina as descendants of imported European vines (although some could have come as seeds), soon after the Spanish colonization of the sixteenth century. Their adaptation to local conditions is seen in the form of significantly higher tolerance to some environmental stresses when compared with European traditional varieties, especially the ability to grow in soils with low water availability and high salt concentration. DNA mapping shows that the Criollas comprise a group more or less separate from most other vinifera varieties, except Muscat d'Alexandrie and Tempranillo. Some Criolla varieties such as Moscatel Amarillo, Criolla Chica, Torrontés Mendocino, and Torrontés Riojano, are used for making regional wines, but the others are of lower quality and make only table wines.

Origins of Torrontés varieties in Argentina
Torrontés is the name of a white variety grown in Argentina; a similar grape of the same name is found in Spain in Galicia and in Córdoba. It accounts for the majority of plantings in the La Rioja region. There are several varieties of Torrontés in Argentina. Torrontés Riojano has the highest quality, while Torrontés Sanjuanino and Torrontés Mendocino are considered to be of lower quality. Torrontés Riojano, Torrontés Sanjuanino, and Moscatel Amarillo (an Argentine cultivar with a phenotype very similar to that of Torrontés Riojano) are each the progeny of a cross between Muscat of Alexandria and Criolla Chica (a black variety, probably the same as the Mission grape in California which is the same as Monica of Cagliari); Torrontés Mendocino is also probably descended from Muscat of Alexandria, although the other parent has not been identified. Torrontés was originally thought to have been brought over directly from Spain, but now it is not clear whether any of the Argentine varieties are in fact the same as the Torrontés that remains in small amounts in Spain in Galicia and Córdoba.