The appellative 'land of the sun and good wine' of the province of Mendoza, especially in the second aspect, is fully ratified by analyzing the publication of the Argentine Wine Observatory, which analyzes the number of producers, their extensions, geographical distribution, and the specific weight of each place in the world of wine production.
In Argentina there are 17,011 producers, who cultivate an area of ??223,384 hectares. But it is interesting to note that 54% of these producers have farms that range from zero to five hectares, highlighting the importance of the smallholding and the small producer in this universe, although they mean only 9% of the total area.
With 18% of the total, those who exploit between five and ten hectares are the second largest in importance. On the other side, at the top of the pyramid, there are those that have more than 50 hectares, which are 825 producers, but at the same time they own 44% of the land under exploitation.
Obviously, our province occupies the first place, with 10,975 producers, followed very far by San Juan with 3,377. Catamarca has 1,022 producers, and it is striking the 5th place of Salta in this ranking with only 230.
Mendoza represents 65% of the total wine production, followed by San Juan with 20%, Catamarca with 6% and La Rioja in fourth place with 5%, while the others have very minority stakes. It is also striking the low number of producers that have properties in more than one province, being only 23, which indicates the strongly local character of land ownership, except among the large areas, which represent precisely 17 of those 23 companies.
Mendoza's place
If we analyze promptly how it is produced in the province, we find a preeminence of the East, with 39% of the production. In that region we find 4,407 producers, of which 42% have between zero and five hectares, concentrated in 7% of the area of ??the region.
The second place in production is the South, with 26% distributed in 2,942 producers. In the South, smallholdings have much more presence: they reach 69% of the total, occupying 4% of the surface.
Then comes a tight core of three regions with very little difference in participation. The so-called Alta Río Mendoza, which concentrates 13% of production among 1442 companies. The incidence of smallholdings in this region is 41% with 5% of the surface.
They tie with 11% the Valley of Uco and the North. The first with 1259 productions, where the plots of 0 to 5 hectares are 36%, and the second with 1204 farms, of which 42% are small farms.
The area with the greatest interference of large areas is the east. 39% of the properties of more than 50 hectares are in the region, and 40% of those with between 40 and 50 as well.
In the Uco Valley, these ranges reach 21% in both categories.
If we analyze the East, the main producer of the province and as a result of the Nation, we also find disparities. San Martín concentrates 48% of production, with 2059 producers whose 38% are small areas.
Its number doubles Rivadavia, which just has 24% of the hand of 1,209 establishments with 39% of smallholdings, and it is the case that 49% of the surface in production is in the hands of the extensions of more than 50 hectares.
Junín appears just above Rivadavia, with 27% of Eastern production, with 1,135 producers, 42% of them with less than five hectares. Santa Rosa has 12% of the total, with 525 producers, and La Paz only reaches 1% with 27 plantations.
The numbers allow to draw a profile of the real dimension of the market. For example, that the area with the most valuable land and wines with the highest prices does not coincide with those areas that are more productive and more extensive.
There are two markets for Mendoza in the world. One is the high range aimed at sophisticated markets that means a lot at the image level and to cement the prestige of Mendoza wine.
There is another market, which is the generic market, bulk sales to less demanding markets and less expensive prices. But this sector remains the most important in its productive scale, in its occupation of the land and in the number of companies working.