Having read and enjoyed The Winesleuth’s recent postings of
her trip to Argentina, I realised that this is another wine producing country
that I’d unintentionally ignored on the blog. With this is mind, I paid a visit
to my local supermarket just before Christmas to see what they had in stock,
and I found, what I hoped to be an interesting bottle. The wine in question was
a Torrontes from Vinalba, I know I’ve tasted the Torrontes grape before, but I
could not remember what flavours you got, so this seemed like a good place to
start.
The Torrontes grape is indigenous to Argentina, and the
grapes in question for this wine are grown in the Mendoza region, which is in
the foothills on the eastern side of the Andes Mountains. The winemaker is a
gentleman called Hervé J. Fabre, who was born in Bordeaux and was apparently one
of the first foreigners to recognise the potential Argentina to produce great
wine.
This wine is made from 100% Torrontes; it had a pale lemon/green
colour with good aromas of tropical fruit, with a hint of citrus coming through
in the background, which instantly started to make my mouth water. On the
palate you got all the flavours to match the aromas plus you also got a touch
of stone fruit thrown into the mix to add that little bit more complexity.
This wine see’s no oak at all, and it doesn’t need it, it has
a good level of acidity and a good length of flavour. Combining all these
together you got an exceptionally well balanced wine that was extremely
enjoyable and very refreshing. Would I recommend this, absolutely, would I buy an
Argentinean Torrontes again, most definitely.
If you liked that, then you MUST try torrontes from the Salta region of northern Argentina. Some of the highest vineyards in the world, 2500 meters, and very different from it's Mendozan cousins to the south.
ReplyDelete