Susana Balbo's Facility in Argentina
I am always drawn to Torrontés in the Crios line of Susana Balbo. Can’t say why, because I’m still noodling out exactly what this Argentine white is. I like the oddball status (found almost nowhere else) and the fragrance: it shames the sweeetest Gewürztraminer. Now that’s been traced to some old muscat varieties by ampelographers. Now there’s a profession I wish I’d known about in school; “Mom, I want to be a forensic botanist on CSI. …You know, and track down missing parents of lost grapes, using DNA and dusty historical, linguistic archives.”
No matter, Torrontés is bipolar. It starts out with a nose of peaches and flowers and ends crisp and refreshing like a Sauvignon Blanc without the grapefruit. So the big mystery is what foods it likes. It’s easy to make it just an apertif, but in Florida we need cool whites for dinner many a night. So, we pulled out the 2010 Crianza with a night of take-out Cuban; pulled roast pork, black bean soup, and caramelized plantains. Mind you, I doctored the pork liberally with rice vinegar and Cristal so it added a sharp acid punch. A remarkable marriage, the Torrontés had the gumption to cut the fat in the pork, but spice dared the torrontes to let loose all its viognier-like stone, fruit, tropical flavors like banana and a bouquet bigger than a florist’s shop.
Put this is at the top of your list of that grand middle category of Viognier, Pinot Blanc, and Viura that are neither Chardonnay nor Sauvignon Blanc. And keep trying it with various foods. For me, the next stop is Torrontés and Thai.
