Two Argentine whites for the holidays

Although it’s freezing cold outside,( in Europe at any rate, I’m still sunning myself in South America) there’s always room for white wine, whether as an aperitif or something to go with a roast chicken dinner, white wine is a lovely choice.

Pinot grigio is often the go-to drink when people are looking for a light white wine but I’ve discovered a lovely Torrontes from Terrazas de los Andes, an Argentine winery situated in the wine region of Mendoza. Terrazas de los Andes has been producing quality wines since the 1980’s and have turned their hand at making a fresh and fruity yet dry white wine. Torrontes one of the flagship varietals of Argentina along with Malbec and is a hybrid that is unique to Argentina. A cross of malvasia and criolla chica, a native grape of Argentina, it has proven itself to be a real winner of a wine from the vines of Argentina.

The Terrazas Torrontes Reserva 2009 is fresh and clean, a great wine with lovely tropical fruit notes, full bodied with great acidity and balance, it was refreshingly dry, an elegant wine which would work on it’s own or with Asian cuisine. Thai dishes, Japanese tempura, ginger, shrimp, all of these popped to mind while I was drinking this wine.

Another of Terrazas wines I really enjoyed was their 2009 Chardonnay. Terrazas de los Andes’ vineyards are situated in the Lujan de Cujo region of Mendoza and the chardonnay vineyards sit at 1200 meters. This is great for producing fresh wines. Too much sun and not enough time to cool down at night would result in wines that are flabby and lack freshness and acidity. Terrazas does everything to ensure that their chardonnays are crisp and clean including NOT letting them go through malo-lactic fermentation to preserve freshness, while still exhibiting the true expression of Argentine fruit. So what does a true Argentine chardonnay taste like according to Terrazas de los Andes? A crisp, clean wine, tropical fruit notes with well integrated oak characteristics – vanilla, coconut and butterscotch were all in there but none dominated and the result was a very pleasing wine. Medium bodied with a medium finish, I could see this being a real crowd pleaser and around the £10 mark, I don’t think you can go wrong with this one. I often find that new world chardonnays can be too oaky or acidic, quite often missing the mark and being big disappointments. The Terrazas de los Andes Chardonnay was anything but that I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up a couple of bottles over the coming holiday season.

2 Comments

  1. Mark medrano /

    Hey winslueth
    Thanks for all the great ideas. bUt what about malbec since you are in south America

    • I guess I’ve been so busy trying other things, I haven’t gotten around to writing about the malbec! I do have some posts coming up featuring malbec so check back in a couple of days…

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