Torrontes

[lperry]

This week I tried for the first time a Torrontes from Argentina. The first sniff after pouring led me to believe that I had accidentally bought a bottle of sweet wine. It was floral and there was an undertone that reminded me of muscadine grapes (but not quite). When I tasted the wine, however, it was dry on the palate.

I tried to pull out separate flavors and aromas, but it was very difficult because after I took the first sip, it seemed that my nose was confusing my palate and my palate was confusing my nose. It was very interesting. I was drinking it without food, and I'm not entirely certain what sort of food it might match well.

I don't really have a question, but I was hoping that the resident eGullet wine gurus might have some insight into this sort of taste/smell combination in wine. For the record, it was a 2005 Amaicha Torrontes - that's a five buck Trader Joe's special. I'm trying to learn more about wine on a starving post-doc's salary with the hope that I'll be well prepared later .

-L

[KatieLoeb]

I love Torrontes. It's like a riesling with less acidity, or a lovely floral Muscat with more backbone. It's the perfect dry, yet aromatic wine both by itself or with food.

It goes great with Szechuan food...

[lperry]

Spicy food makes sense. My Total Wine lists a Torrontes from the Pisano winery in Uruguay, and the first review I found online said, "absolutely delightful." I'll start thinking about what to cook.

[Daniel Rogov]

Katey put her finger on it. Torrontes wines tend to be very floral on the nose and palate. They also tend to have up-front fruitiness. The combination may well be mis-interpreted as a kind of sweetness.

[lperry]

Thank you both for your comments. I've drunk a lot of wine, but I have just begun to learn to deconstruct it so I can better match it with food. I've encountered problems relying on labels for guidance.

I've found that small, local wineries are very good at recommending food/wine pairings, but others seem to be hit or miss, particularly when it comes to pairing whites and spicy foods. I think of this combination as the perfect hot weather dinner. Most people grab a beer, but I'd rather have wine.

[jsmeeker]

I did a little wine shopping today at a fairly new place in Dallas. As far as I can tell, this wine shop is not part of a chain or anything like that. One nice thing about this shop is they have many wines available for a taste (or even a full glass) via an Enomatic system. They must have had two dozen or so wines available this way. After selecting some reds, I though some whites would be good. I told the girl helping me that I liked rieslings and gewurztraminers. She took me over to the tasting station and gave me a taste of a Torrontes. I liked it. Seemed a bit sweet though. But I kept it in mind. The price of THAT bottle was a tad more than I was trying to spend. So, she recommended another bottle of Torrontes that was in my price range. So, I decided to add that to my purchase.

What I bought was a 2007 Zolo Torrontes. (Mendoza region of Argentina)

Looking forward to trying this out. It's always nice to discover a new varietal of wine.

[KatieLoeb]

Jeff:

Try the Torrontes with something spicy, but not too sweet. I'd suggest Szechuan or Indian cuisine rather than chili or barbeque if you see the distinction I'm going for.

Let us know how you liked it. I'm always up for hearing about a new producer I haven't tried, although it's likely I can't get that up here anyway, since I live in a state controlled environment and anything I read about is usually just a tease...

[jsmeeker]

Jeff:

Try the Torrontes with something spicy, but not too sweet.  I'd suggest Szechuan or Indian cuisine rather than chili or barbeque if you see the distinction I'm going for.

Let us know how you liked it.  I'm always up for hearing about a new producer I haven't tried, although it's likely I can't get that up here anyway, since I live in a state controlled environment and anything I read about is usually just a tease...

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thanks for the tip on the food pairing. I don't cook Szechuan at home often, and have never done Indian. But this sounds like a good time to start!