I’m going to try to write this as we do an online tasting of Torrontés from Argentina. We will see how successful I am at keeping up with a Twitter feed, drinking wine and typing. Torrontés is a white wine grown at high elevations in the Mendoza region, the two I will be tasting are grown above 5500 feet.
I can say now that my plan did not work. No way I can keep up on Twitter and writing at the same time. We did have fun, however, tasting the 2011 Crios Torrontés and the 2011 Finca Las Nubes (farm of the clouds) Torrontés and tweeting with everyone. People all over the country joined in and @CriosWine and @ArgentineanWine were tweeting from Mendoza along with @VinesOfMendoza. All were tasting the Crios Torrontés and many were tasting the Finca Las Nubes or another Torrontés from Argentina.
The 2011 Finca Las Nubes Torrontés was grown in the Cafayate Valley in the Salta region. This is north of the city of Mendoza and the average vineyard elevation is 5576 feet. The wine was a clear, light yellow color and the nose was floral with jasmine, honeysuckle and a hint of rubber tire. Quite an interesting aroma. This is a very crisp wine, plenty of acid and the flavors were complex with jasmine, orange blossom, orange rind. The finish was pleasant and long, too.
The 2011 Crios Torrontés sourced its grapes from La Rioja, Tucumán and Mendoza, all at an average elevation of 5576 feet. These areas are a little south of Salta but just as high and dry. This wine was also the light yellow color typical of Torrontés. While the previous wine was orange like, the Crios is much more lemony. The nose was floral with lemon blossoms, perfume and plumeria. The flavor I’ll describe as “zesty”, real crisp with lemon blossoms and lemon zest. The Crios also had a pleasantly long finish.
Both of these Torrontés were excellent and I highly recommend you try both of them together to see the differences. These would be great with anything spicy or just to sit in the backyard and sip on a warm evening. I was really surprised at the complexity of these wines. Torrontés may displace Sauvignon Blanc as my summer wine.
Update: You can view photos of the tasting event in San Francisco at http://tinyurl.com/cal797k and Mendoza at http://tinyurl.com/bsvgjqj
Disclaimer: These wines were provided to us as tasting samples.
