WHAT does Argentina mean to you? Gauchos, beef, ace polo players and Madonna shrink-wrapped as Evita, I bet, rather than a stash of desirable wine bottles. But that is set to change. The country which has had to make do, until now, with the cramped corners of shelves labelled `Rest of the World', and with a paragraph or two at the end of otherwise encyclopedic wine guides, is beginning to make a splash.
In some quarters, it is even being hailed as the "New Chile". Although that may be going a tad too far, there seems little doubt that Chile's current difficulties - drought, insufficient wine and rising prices - may give her nearest neighbour across the Andes a golden opportunity to step into the breach. As the fifth biggest wine producing country in the world - with an output five times that of Chile - Argentina is awash with wine. Not only that, but increasingly it's the sort of wine that the rest of the world likes to drink.
This was not always the case. Isolated and inward-looking for a long time, Argentina's old wine industry had become used to churning out massive quantities - to be lapped up, virtually down to the last drop, by an inordinately thirsty home market (annual consumption per person: 90 litres a year).
By all accounts, it was largely unimpressive stuff, made in an old-fashioned style which new-fangled wine drinkers elsewhere would have found flabby and oxidised. If it had come our way 10 years ago, we probably wouldn't have touched it with an Argie barge pole.
But the economic restructuring of Argentina since the late 1980s has brought major changes - new investment, new winemakers, new markets. With those alarming domestic consumption figures finally collapsing, there's a whole new focus on exporting. That means producing well-made wines at keen prices. You can judge Argentina's progress from the fact that exports to Britain alone have shot up 22-fold in the past four years, according to a report in this month's Decanter. The flow of Argentinian wine into Ireland may not have accelerated quite so dramatically in that time, but it's certainly speeding up - a sure sign of interesting flavours and/or bargain prices.
Where flavour is concerned, Argentina has the supreme advantage of offering something different. The highly aromatic Torrontes grape is responsible for a white wine unlike any other - one that seems to steal a pinch of spice from Gewurztraminer and drop it into an apparently light-weight (but surprisingly alcoholic) body.
On the red front, Argentina's glory is Malbec, a grape which maintains a very minor presence in Bordeaux besides producing the dark wines of Cahors. In Argentina it can yield wonderfully fleshy wines with rich flavours of blackberries and damsons and a distinctive, earthy edge. As much Malbec is grown as all the country's other grape varieties combined - and for the sake of precious variety in a drinking world dominated by a handful of varietals, I hope it stays that way.
On the other hand, it's only fair to admit that Argentina is handling the popular varietals impressively, too. Getting my teeth into the country over the past few weeks, I've been surprised at the high quality, not just of the Cabernets and Merlots, but of zippy-fresh Chardonnays from grapes grown at high altitudes. With prices starting at £5.99, these offer cracking competition to Chile - and everywhere else, for that matter.
But it's not just at the £5.99 bracket that Argentina deserves to be eagerly watched. What is striking about the new leaf turned over by this old wine-producing country is that it also encompasses quality wines at the premium end of the market. Many have been developed with the help of imported consultants - as indeed you might guess from the frequent, fragrant aromas of new French oak, that favourite substance of international winemakers with serious intent.
Already in Republic, we are spoiled for Argentinian choice in the £10 to £12 bracket, as well as lower down the scale. Besides those listed below, names to reckon with at the top end include Luigi Bosca and Humbeito Canale (both from Verlings) and Catena, the Esmeralda wines which are the upmarket sisters of Alamos Ridge (Searsons).