Grape Guide
Criolla Grande
Pink-skinnedCriolla Grande is a pink-skinned Argentine variety, the product of a natural cross between Criolla Chica (Listán Prieto) and Muscat of Alexandria that took place in the Americas. Still one of the country's most planted grapes and concentrated almost entirely in Mendoza, it supplies inexpensive pink and deeply coloured white wines, much of it sold in litre bottles and cartons.
Key characteristics
- Pink-skinned Criolla of American origin
- Natural cross of Criolla Chica (Listán Prieto) and Muscat of Alexandria
- Mid to late ripening
- Big, loose bunches of large berries
- 14,040 ha in Argentina in 2018, 96.6 per cent of it in Mendoza
Typical flavors
Major regions
Mendoza · San Martín (Mendoza) · Rivadavia (Mendoza) · Maipú (Mendoza) · Santa Rosa (Mendoza) · San Juan
Also known as
Criolla Grande Sanjuanina · Criolla Sanjuanina
Criolla Grande is a pink-skinned variety that belongs to the Criolla family of Spanish-colonial vines in Argentina. Its berries are large and its bunches big and loose, and it ripens from mid to late season. In the cellar it is treated as a volume grape: the juice is made into inexpensive pink wine and into white wine with a deep colour, usually for early drinking and for domestic consumption. Much of it is sold in litre bottles or cartons, and it is also grown for the table.
Its standing is changing slowly. Planted area has shrunk by roughly two fifths since 2000, yet in 2023 it was still one of the four varieties that together supplied more than half of all grapes entering Argentine wineries. In 2026 the national wine institute (INV) reportedly added it to the list of Vitis vinifera varieties suitable for quality wine, including Reserva and Gran Reserva labelling, on the grounds that it can give wines with a distinct character of their own.
Although Criolla Grande is called an Argentine native, what that means is that it came into being in the Americas rather than in Europe. The Criollas trace back to vines that Spanish colonists and missionaries carried across from the sixteenth century onward; these crossed freely and produced new seedlings in the colonial vineyards of South America. Two founders account for much of this group: Listán Prieto, the dark-skinned vine called Mission in California, País in Chile and Criolla Chica in Argentina, and the white Muscat of Alexandria (Moscatel de Alejandría).
Microsatellite analysis shows Criolla Grande to be a natural cross of Criolla Chica (Listán Prieto) and Muscat of Alexandria. This puts it in a family with Cereza, Pedro Giménez and the Torrontés group (Torrontés Riojano and Torrontés Sanjuanino), each of which carries those same two parents in some combination. It holds catalogue number 3241 in the international variety database. Because the parentage rests on a modest set of markers, it is best treated as strongly indicated rather than proven by full genome sequencing.
The synonym Sanjuanina points to the province of San Juan, yet the variety has long been planted far more widely in neighbouring Mendoza. Argentina's agricultural research institute INTA has catalogued about 28 distinct Criolla varieties in the country, and Criolla Grande ranks among the most important of them by area.
Criolla Grande ripens mid to late in the season and carries large, loose bunches of big, pink-skinned berries. It is a high-yielding workhorse of the irrigated Mendoza oases, grown for volume rather than concentration. Its area fell by 43 per cent between 2000 and 2018, a loss of 10,601 ha, leaving 14,040 ha. Even then it made up 6.4 per cent of Argentina's vineyard and ranked fifth by area, with 96.6 per cent of it in Mendoza and 3.2 per cent in San Juan. Nine years earlier, in 2009, about 20,900 ha were planted, placing it behind only Cereza and Malbec as Argentina's third largest variety by area. The decline reflects low market prestige and changing consumer habits, and growers have been pulling out vines.
Criolla Grande is made mainly into inexpensive wines for the Argentine domestic market. The usual products are pink wines and white wines with a deep colour drawn from the pigmented skins, both made for early consumption, with a simple, fruity profile and a faint grapey note inherited from its Muscat parent. They are typically sold in litre bottles or cartons, and the grape is also eaten fresh. Very little reaches export markets. Interest in the wider Criolla family has revived in recent years, and some growers now treat these old-vine grapes more seriously. The 2026 INV decision opens the way for varietal wines under the quality categories, including Reserva and Gran Reserva, so its commercial profile may broaden in coming vintages, though the extent of any shift is not yet clear.
Where it grows
Mendoza
By far the main home of the variety, holding about 96.6 per cent of the national area in 2018, mostly in the irrigated oases of the east and centre.
San Martín and Rivadavia
Eastern Mendoza departments where the variety is a mainstay of bulk production; in San Martín, Cereza and Criolla Grande together account for roughly a third of the vines.
Maipú and Santa Rosa
Further Mendoza departments where Criolla Grande is also planted, supplying the same inexpensive domestic wine styles.
San Juan
The second province, with about 3.2 per cent of the national area in 2018. The Sanjuanina element of its synonyms recalls a historical link with the province.
Argentina overall
Third by area in 2009 and fifth in 2018. In 2023 about 985,000 quintals (roughly 98,500 tonnes) of Criolla Grande entered wineries, fourth among all varieties, behind Malbec, Cereza and Bonarda.