Comments on The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog: A controversial Torrontes

When I was in Argentina last summer, I read some l...

2009-03-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

When I was in Argentina last summer, I read some local wine critics who were upset about the modernization of Torrontes that removed some of what makes it unique. I believe they mentioned turpenes.

I think Colome was mentioned as one of the Torrontes that was more authentic to the original, more expressive (but rawer) style.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Adventure.

2008-12-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Adventure.

I recently returned from 3 months in Buenos Aires,...

2008-12-09T19:30:00.000-08:00

I recently returned from 3 months in Buenos Aires, where I discovered the torrontes grape only a few weeks before leaving the city. My introduction was via torrontes from Colome Bodega, and I fell in love with the wine!

After returning to the states, I was eager to continue my affair with this grape, so I bought the first Torrontes I could find-- which happened to come from Crios. Anticipating the luscious torrontes perfume; then the memorable burst of flavor, I pressed my lips to the glass and sipped...

Instead of tropical magic I tasted cold, crisp mineral. Not awful, but certainly not the wine I remembered. This couldn't be a Torrontes!

I began to wonder if I had been so bewitched by Argentina that my perceptions were altered. Was I stoned on Buenos Aires, tasting ambrosia while sipping something less than ordinary?

Actually, I think the explanation is simpler. Some Torrontes are magic and some are mundane, just as some cabs are dramatic and others are dull.

Your reaction to your first torrontes mirrors my recent experience, and it is no mere coincidence that we drank wine from the same maker.

The moral of this tale is: don't give up on the torrontes grape until you've ventured beyond Crios. As for me, I'm going to track down a Colome torrontes with the hope of falling in love all over again.

I now suspect that the wine may have been faulty f...

2008-12-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

I now suspect that the wine may have been faulty from the beginning (as in "oxidized") because even several days later it still tasted about the same (I pump the air out and refrigerate, but still usually a white won't last more than a couple of days...). I will try another bottle and see...

Don't you think Gary peformed hypnosis? He planted...

2008-11-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

Don't you think Gary peformed hypnosis? He planted a suggestion. There is a lot of that in wine. Like people who recite four or five fruits, herbs or flowers they smell in a wine...they are "inspired", like a film "based on a true story".

My guess is that maybe the wine was oversulfured, thus reduced when you first drank it. As it oxidized the free sulfur combined and voila, it was more expressive.