Torrontes

I never thought a time would come when we didn't like the wine.

It was a beautiful spring day, we were in Liz's backyard complete with grilled pizza, guacamole, hummus and spicy thai food...a perfect set up for a great white wine. And yet with every bottle of wine we were disappointed. Torrontes.
The only grape considered indigenous to Argentina.

Primarily from Salta and Mendoza: Salta produces wines that are less imposing, but tend to be more crisp, and those from Mendoza are intense and 'bigger' wines. Both regions are working on crispness (which will help my opinion of it!)

Here is a quote that perfectly describes our experience:
"Pulling the cork on a Torrontés can be like opening a bottle of Eau de Cologne: there is a Muscat-like exuberance, with heady floral and herbal notes. But as aromatically intriguing as it is, Torrontés has often failed to deliver on the palate, with a rather dull and sometimes flabby character." -Tom Cannavan

Good food pairings are smoked meats, strong cheeses and spicy food.

Santa Julia $12.00
2008 Mendoza
Nose: apricot, peaches, wildflower, bubble bath, floral nose, lilacs. Taste: easy, not as good as the nose.

Don Cano $8.99
2008 La Rioja
Nose: honeysuckle, less floral than the first, butter. Taste: very wet, popcorn, like drinking cream, heavy, no acidity, cloying.

Crios $15.99
2009 Salta
Most recognizable label. Nose: citrus, lemon. Taste: soap, doesn't taste like it's in the same family as the other two. More lemony, grassy, but still cloying.

Yellow & Blue $13.50
2008 Salta
Butter again! Tastes like soap too. Phlemy. No nose, tastes dull. We called this a picnic wine. It's got a bit more acidity.

Bodega Uno $14.00
2008 Mendoza
Earthy nose, mineral, wet asphalt, wet rocks. Tastes: peachy, apple skins that went brown, sour, citrus.

Don David $16.00
2008 Salta
Nice nose, citrus, floral not perfumey, lily of the valley, "not like the body sprays Jen's kids wear", Tastes: lemon, tart, raspberry seed, lemonade that isn't sweet enough. Not balanced but it's refreshing in comparison to the others.

Our top three:
1. Don David
2-3. Santa Julia and Crios (tied)

Once our voting was finished we quickly switched to different wine. This could be the first time we had wine left in ALL of the bottles.

Pros: reasonably priced, it stands up to spicy food.
Cons: cloying, the nose is much better than the taste.
This could be a perfect wine on a boiling hot day this summer. But I'll only want it if the wine is ice cold and I'm sweating in the sun.