THE TERROIR
Valle de UCO: where altitude defines everything
Mendoza's Valle de UCO is at an entirely different altitude to the vineyards that made the region famous. At 1,000 metres, the temperatures are cooler, the diurnal range is extreme, and the Andes loom as a constant presence — providing glacier water irrigation and a natural windbreak against Pacific fronts.
Roberto Cipresso chose Valle de UCO not despite the challenge but for it. The same conditions that define great Tuscan wine — poor soils, thermal stress, altitude — create equivalent complexity here. Malbec at this elevation forgets the jammy approachability of valley-floor wines and becomes something more structured, more tense, more interesting.
And at Oria's Mendoza estate, Sangiovese finds a second home — the variety that Roberto has mastered over 40 years in Tuscany responding to Argentine altitude in ways that create a wholly unique wine.
Varieties in Mendoza
Malbec
At 1,000m, Malbec abandons soft approachability for concentration and structure. Dark plum, violet, iron. A wine that needs time and repays patience.
Sangiovese
Roberto's mastery in a new context. The 133 clones that define Oria's Tuscan wine, reimagined under an Argentine sky. A conversation between two great wine cultures.
Cabernet Franc
Pencil shavings, graphite, dark herbs. Cab Franc at altitude is one of Argentina's best-kept secrets — and Oria's Mendoza parcel is an expression of its finest potential.
Three terroirs, one membership
Val d'Orcia · Mendoza · Uruguay — all part of the Oria wine universe.