The Big 3: Only the U.S. and Canada purchase more Argentine wine than Brazil. (Source: Jornal do Comercio)

The Portuguese accents and “Muito Obrigados” covering the Masters of Food & Wine barrel in the lobby of the Park Hyatt Mendoza were a good clue earlier this year. Now, mid-year wine export numbers and a Trapiche study of consumption habits confirm Brazil’s untapped upside as a consumer of Argentine wine and wine tourism.

On assignment in Mendoza, Luiz Guimarães of Jornal do Comercio says Brazil is now the #3 importer of Argentine wine after the U.S. and Canada. In January, Brazil ranked 4th behind the U.K., but double-digit growth (14.7%) in the first half of 2011 catapulted our South American neighbors into the Big 3. U.K. consumption over the same period rose less than 3%.

Phenomenal upside in Brazil is confirmed in the results of a new market study commissioned by Trapiche. Brazilians drink less than 2 liters of wine per capita annually (Argentines drink 30), and the new middle class that has emerged in Brazil over the past decade is the same size as the entire population of Argentina, 40 million. Guimarães says wineries like Trapiche are seeing record sales growth at all price levels in Brazil including the US$10-20 per bottle range.

Argentina’s seduction of Brazilian palates is also luring more tourists to Argentina’s vineyards and wine trails. In today’s Diario de Pernambuco, a group of Brazilians tour 14 vineyards in Mendoza and Salta, and Shirley Pacelli shares the best of each vineyard with the readers back home. At Trapiche, it was the video presentation. At Pulenta, the Porsches. In Cafayate, it was the natural beauty and Torrontes. And at Tupungato Winelands, it was the opportunity to buy your own vineyard.

While Pacelli says the majority of owners at Tupungato Winelands are from the U.S. and Europe, it’s not hard to envision some Brazilian neighbors in the near future. (Full Story in Portuguese)