Colomé is a village and rural municipality in

Salta Province Salta () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy. To the north it borders Boliv ...

in northwestern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is located about 20 km from

Molinos, Salta Molinos is a village and rural municipality in Salta Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina co ...

. This settlement was established by the last Spanish governor of Salta, Nicolás Severo de Isasmendi, in 1831. His daughter Ascención imported

grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, b ...

s from France and planted them in the area at an average altitude of 2200 m, which is extremely high for

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

. The climate is dry and arid, and temperature differences between day and night can be high. The winters are very cold. Under these conditions, growing grapes is a challenge, but it has the advantage that insects, pests and diseases are less common. Swiss vigneron

Donald M. Hess Donald M. Hess (born 1936) is a Swiss winemaker and art collector. Life Donald Marc Hess inherited a brewery close to Bern from his father. His father passed away when he was 20 years old. After learning the brewing tradition in Bavaria as an ...

bought the Bodega Colomé and vineyards in the neighbourhood in 2001. One of his vineyards is at 3100 m (approx. 10,000 ft), the highest elevation worldwide. Its wine is called ''Altura Máxima''. In addition, Donald M. Hess has built a museum in Colomé dedicated to the American artist ''James Turrell'', which opened in 2009.''Museo James Turrell.''
bodegacolome.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14

References

Populated places in Salta Province Viticulture {{Salta-geo-stub