Bonarda

Argentina's number-two red; juicy and underrated.

Bonarda is Argentina's second-most-planted red grape after Malbec, but a confusing one — the Argentine Bonarda is actually Charbono (or Douce Noir), unrelated to several Italian grapes also called Bonarda. The wines are deeply colored, plummy, lower in tannin than Malbec, and historically used for jug wine. Quality-focused estates have begun bottling old-vine Bonarda from the cooler regions of San Juan and Mendoza, showing serious aging potential and a juicy black-cherry profile.