A Report From Wine Explorer Diego Samper
March 6, 2026
Paris, France
A few mornings ago, I noticed something small but unmistakable:
The light had changed.
Not summer yet. Not warmth exactly. Just a little more brightness on the buildings across the street. A little more daylight at the edges of the day.
Around this time of year, the northern hemisphere slowly stretches itself back out. A few extra minutes of sun each day.
You feel it before you name it.
Spring is on its way.
And if you work in wine, you notice another shift happening at the same time.
While we move toward spring here in Paris, Argentina is moving toward harvest.
That is one of the quiet pleasures of following wine closely: the seasons answering each other from opposite sides of the world.
Here, the vines are waking up. There, the fruit is coming in.
Harvest in Argentina
At Pucarilla, we are still waiting. The grapes are not quite ready yet.
But in the lower parts of the valley, harvest has already begun. Friends at Arca Yaco have started bringing fruit into the winery, which is always a good sign.
Harvest remains one of the most intense moments in the life of a winery.
Months of work come down to a narrow window.
Yes, there is science involved:
Sugar levels are measured
Brix numbers are tracked daily
But numbers never tell the full story.
So winemakers walk the vineyards.
They taste berries.
They examine skins and seeds.
They watch how ripening progresses.
They judge balance directly in the fruit.
In the end, harvest is both measured and felt.
A Region Receiving More Attention
I have also heard that Tim Atkin has been visiting producers in the north again, which is always interesting to watch.
When someone like him travels through a region, it often brings more attention to winemakers who have been doing serious work quietly for years.
Your Argentina Collection
Many of you have just started receiving your Argentine collection.
This remains one of my favorite shipments of the year because it brings together winemakers we have been working alongside for a long time:
Paco Puga
Agustín Lanús
Raúl Dávalos
Marcial Sánchez
When you open one of these bottles, you are tasting more than a vintage.
You are tasting projects that have grown alongside this partnership.
Some of these wineries were very small when we first began working together:
A few barrels
Young vineyards
Producers still finding their voice
Over time:
The vineyards mature
The wines gain confidence
The projects become stronger
And much of that growth happens because of you.
What Members Make Possible
Members do more than buy wine.
You help sustain producers we believe in.
You help them:
Keep farming
Keep experimenting
Keep refining their wines year after year
Quietly, bottle by bottle, you become part of that story too.
A Video From Julien
This week you will also find a video from Julien, which I think you will enjoy.
He explains some of the thinking behind the collection and introduces some of the people behind the wines.
Looking Ahead to April
Many of you have already started asking about the April collection, so I want to mention it early.
As temperatures rise, we prefer to move wines before summer heat becomes a risk.
Heat is no friend to wine in transit.
Trucks warm up
Warehouses warm up
Good wine deserves better than that
So this year we are getting ahead of the heat.
April Shipment Adjustment
Instead of six bottles in April, we will send twelve bottles.
Think of it as stocking the cellar before summer.
This allows wines to travel while temperatures remain mild and gives you extra bottles ready for the longer evenings ahead.
And yes, the collection will earn its place.
What April Will Bring
For April, we are looking toward France.
There are a few bottles I am especially looking forward to bringing back, along with wines many of you continue returning to:
Quiet best sellers
Bottles that disappear faster than expected
A few familiar names
A few surprises
More on that very soon.
Wines for Longer Evenings
For now, Argentine wines are beginning to find their natural partners again:
Longer evenings
Open windows
Something cooking over fire
A steak on the grill
Friends staying later than planned
A good Argentine red belongs naturally at that kind of table.
A Small Detail That Stayed With Me
This week I opened a bottle from the south of France called Altura.
In Spanish, altura simply means altitude.
The vineyard sat at around 350 meters above sea level — not particularly high by Argentine standards, but high enough for the producer to highlight it.
It reminded me of something I notice everywhere:
Winemakers are always trying to explain where their wines come from.
Sometimes they talk about:
Soil
Climate
Elevation
Every region searches for language that captures what makes its place distinct.
That search never really ends.
And perhaps that is why wine stays interesting.
It is never just the bottle.
It is:
The season
The place
The people
The timing
So wherever you are, enjoy the longer days.
Open something good.
And raise a glass to another harvest beginning somewhere in the world.
Salud,
Diego Samper
The Wine Explorer
