The VINEYARDS: Soaring to 6,000 feet, Cafayate Valley is one of the world's highest altitude viticultural regions. It lies amid the snow-capped Andes of northwestern Argentina's Salta province, near the border of Bolivia and just below the Tropic of Capricorn.
- With its high altitude, arid climate, and rocky, sandy soil rich in Andean minerals, Cafayate is one of the world's premier grape-growing regions.
- Crisp, clean air is pollution free, and with an average annual rainfall of only about seven inches, irrigation is provided by pure, melted snow.
- Cafayate Valley enjoys wider temperature ranges than any other part of Argentina, with warm summer days offset by cool nights plunging by as much as 45°F. This extraordinary variance is key to Don Rodolfo wines, preserving acidity, enhancing richness of aroma/flavor, and increasing superior varietal expression.
- The Valley enjoys brilliant sunshine an average of 350 days each year. Exposure to intense solar ultraviolet radiation at high altitudes stimulates polyphenol synthesis in grapes, adding great complexity to the wines (as a bonus, polyphenols are believed to be responsible for the enhanced ability of wines made from high-altitude grapes to help prevent heart disease).
