[wine] Torrontes

FYI from NYTimes February 1, 2011 Ready for the Next Argentine Invasion? By ERIC ASIMOV TORRONTÉ has been touted as the hottest thing to arrive from Argentina since the tango. Or at least since malbec. It.s a grape, and a white wine, and some say it will be as popular in the United States as pinot grigio. Well, one day, perhaps. But first things first. Have you even heard of torronté The grape is grown pretty much nowhere else in the world but Argentina. Yes, Spain also has a grape called torronté but the two grapes are apparently unrelated. The Argentine grape has been shown genetically to be a hybrid of the muscat of Alexandria and the criolla, or mission, as it.s known in English. The ancestry of the torrontéis interesting only in that it most definitely bears more than a passing resemblance to the gloriously fragrant muscat. The best torrontéare highly aromatic, exuberantly floral with a rich, hothouse citrus scent as well. Dip your nose into a glass, and you don.t know whether it ought to be sold as a wine or a perfume. Argentina has a talent for obscure grapes. It took the malbec, a red grape that is forgotten in Bordeaux, overlooked in Cahors and known as côn the Loire Valley, and turned it into a juicy, fruity, money-generating phenomenon identified purely with Argentina. Can torrontébecome malbec.s white counterpart? Indeed, in 2010, Argentina exported more than 231,000 cases of torrontéto the United States, according to Wines of Argentina, a trade group. That figure may seem minuscule next to the 3.15 million cases of Argentine malbec the United States received that year. But compared with the mere 29,333 cases of torrontéexported to the United States in 2004, the growth has been remarkable. Given the rate of the torrontéonslaught, the wine panel felt compelled recently to taste through 20 bottles. We could easily have done 50, given the sheer amount of wine out there. For the tasting, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Brett Feore, the beverage director at Apiary in the East Village, and Carla Rzeszewski, the wine director at the Breslin and the John Dory Oyster Bar on West 29th Street. It was clear right away that torrontéhas issues of identity. These wines were all over the stylistic map. Some were indeed dry, light-bodied and crisp, like pinot grigios. Others were broad, heavy and rich, like ultra-ripe California chardonnays. This may be a problem. All genres of wine have their stylistic deviations, but consumers can often read the cues. Chablis is a chardonnay that one can reasonably assume will be lean and minerally, without oak flavors. One would likewise expect a California chardonnay to be richer, and oaky flavors would not surprise. Of course, exceptions exist, often from labels that have been around long enough to establish an identity of their own. But torrontéhas no clear identity, not yet at least, and the unpredictable nature of what.s in the bottles will not help. Wherever the wines landed on the spectrum, we found that their level of quality depended on one crucial component: acidity. Whether light or heavy, if the wines had enough acidity they came across as lively and vivacious. The rest landed with a thud, flaccid, unctuous and unpleasant. Florence had other issues with the wines. .Some were concentrated, but finished with a kind of watery emptiness,. she said. .And often, the nose and the palate were not on speaking terms.. That is to say, the aromas often did not signal clearly how the wines would taste. So, what did we like? Those beautiful aromas . or as Brett put it, .floral, mandarin, muscat, nice!. Carla found a touch of bitterness in some wines, which she very much appreciated. Just to make torrontéa little more complicated, it turns out the grape in Argentina has three sub-varieties: the torrontéRiojano, the best and most aromatic, which comes from the northern province of La Rioja and Salta; the less aromatic torrontéSanjuanino, from the San Juan province south of La Rioja; and the much-less aromatic torrontéMendocino, from the Mendoza area, which . fasten your seat belts . may not be related to the other two at all. While I would never want to assume which sub-variety was used, we did find a geographical correlation. Of the 20 bottles in the tasting, 11 were from Salta and other northern provinces. Eight were from Mendoza, and one was from San Juan. But of our top 10, seven were from the north, including our top four. Only three were from Mendoza, and they tended to be more subdued aromatically. Our No. 1 wine, and our best value at $15, was the 2009 Cuma from Michel Torino, from the Cafayate Valley in Salta. With plenty of acidity, the Cuma was fresh and lively, which made its aromas of mandarin and cantaloupe vibrant rather than heavy. Likewise, our No. 2, the 2009 Alamos from Catena, also from Salta, was thoroughly refreshing with aromas of orange blossoms. The story was similar for Nos. 3 and 4, both from Salta, too. The 2010 Crios de Susana Balbo was fragrant with melon and citrus, and well balanced, as was the 2009 TomáAchál Nóe, which had an added herbal touch. By contrast the No. 5 Norton Lo Tengo and the No. 6 Goulart, both from Mendoza, were far more reticent aromatically though pleasing and balanced enough. At this stage in the evolution of torrontéquite a bit of experimentation is still going on. Some wines are clearly made in steel tanks, which accentuates the fresh, lively aromas. Others may have been briefly aged in oak barrels, adding depth and texture to the wines. Thankfully, we found very little evidence of new oak in our tasting. For my part, I was encouraged by the wines we liked best, particularly our top five. Their aromatic exuberance is singular and pleasing, with the caution that the wines ought to be consumed while young. As for comparisons to pinot grigio, they seem both premature and misleading. The big-selling pinot grigios are so indistinct that they offend no one but those seeking distinctive wines. Torronté on the other hand, are quite unusual, which confers on them the power to offend. In wine, that.s often a good thing. Tasting Report BEST VALUE Michel Torino Cuma, $15, *** Cafayate Valley Torronté2009 Fresh and lively with depth, presence and flavors of orange and cantaloupe. (Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York) Catena Alamos, $14, *** Salta Torronté2009 Fragrant and refreshing with aromas of flowers and citrus. (Alamos U.S.A., Hayward, Calif.) Crios de Susana Balbo, $13, ** ½ Salta Torronté2010 Well balanced with lingering flavors of mandarin and honeydew. (Vine Connections, Sausalito, Calif.) TomáAchál Nóe, $17, ** ½ Cafayate Valley Torronté2009 Light-bodied and balanced with floral aromas and orange and herbal flavors. (Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York) Norton Lo Tengo, $11, ** ½ Mendoza Torronté2009 Full-bodied but fresh and balanced with flavors of citrus and tropical fruit. (Tgic Importers, Woodland Hills, Calif.) Goulart, $14, ** Mendoza Torronté2009 Subtle and restrained with flavors of minerals, melon and herbs. (Southern Starz, Huntington Beach, Calif.) Coloméalchaquíalley, $12, ** Torronté2009 Balanced and pleasing with flavors of peaches, flowers and citrus. (The Hess Wine Collection, Napa, Calif.) La Yunta Famatina Valley, $10, ** La Rioja Torronté2010 Straightforward with orange and herbal flavors. (SWG Imports, Bend, Ore.) San Telmo Esencia, $15, ** Mendoza Torronté2009 Flavors of melon and citrus but a bit heavy. (Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Napa, Calif.) Terrazas de los Andes, $21, ** Reserva Salta Torronté2008 Aromas of ripe oranges and flowers but a touch hot. (MoëHennessy, New York) -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 * * james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *