Did you know that Argentina is the world’s fourth largest wine-producing
country? I must confess that I didn’t, until I read about it in “Wine Lover’s
Companion” by Ron and Sharon Herbst. The country evidently has 1,500
wineries. So why then, we ask ourselves, do we see so little Argentinean wine in
the supermarkets here? The answer turns out to be quite simple; they drink most
of it themselves.
For many years, Argentina turned out simple plonk for the
masses, but more recently, winemakers have started to produce high quality
wines, perhaps with an eye on profitable export markets. Mendoza is considered
the heart of the vigorous winemaking industry, with the vast majority of
wineries located there. They’ve been very busy too. This year, it’s expected
that Argentine wine exports will probably hit a new all-time record.
Fuzion Chenin-Chardonnay 2010 (white), Argentina. (Tops and
Central, Bt. 459)
Gustavo Martinez, of Familia
Zuccardi Winery.
The Fuzion range is produced by Familia Zuccardi of Maip๚, in
one of the country’s most famous wineries. They take a contemporary approach to
wine making and in their state-of-the-art facilities, hand-picked grapes are
pressed and fermented at low temperatures in order to extract the best fruit
character. Gustavo Martinez, the winemaking Team Leader has a winemaking degree
from Universidad Don Bosco in Mendoza. He says, “I love making wines which can
capture people with an easy-going appeal.”
The wine is a straw-yellow colour with hints of green and
there’s a lovely rich aroma of tropical fruit, with notes of pears and apples.
It has a smooth taste with loads of fruit and there’s a pleasing cut of acidity
to balance the fruit. Although the wine is dry and crisp, there are attractive
sweetish overtones on the taste. There’s an attractive dry finish too. Chenin
Blanc (SHEN-ihn BLAHNGK) usually has a high acid content and it works
well blended with the milder Chardonnay by giving the wine a lively zesty
quality. This blend has had 30% Chardonnay added to the Chenin and comes at
almost 13% alcohol.
It is a very pleasant and interesting wine, which would go
well with chicken, seafood and some light Thai dishes. It would work well with
cheeses like Brie and Camembert, if there’s still some left by the time you get
to the end of the meal.
Trivento “Mixtus” Merlot-Malbec 2010 (red), Argentina. (Wine
Connection Bt. 399)
Here’s another catchy name that Argentine wine growers seem
to be going for these days. Although the Merlot grape will be familiar to most
wine-lovers, the Malbec may be less so. It’s a dark purple grape that makes wine
with robust tannins. Although it first found fame in France, these days it’s
associated with Argentina. The wine growers there have virtually made it their
own.
This wine has a very dark high-density appearance; crimson
right to the edges of the glass. There’s a typical aroma of spicy dark cherries
and a kind of woody fragrance with sweetish ginger overtones in the background.
But the aroma is a bit shy at first, so you’ll need to open the bottle a good
forty-five minutes before you taste the wine. This really needs plenty of air
contact to soften it up a bit and I’d suggest that you tip the whole lot into a
decanter. If you haven’t got a real one, a big glass jug will do, although it
probably won’t look quite as elegant.
Anyway, this is a very dry and assertive wine with firm
tannins and a rather velvety mouth-feel. There’s dark fruit on the taste, a
touch of mint and a fair bit of sharpness too. The fruit is restrained and
there’s a long, dry zesty finish with hints of lemon. This seems to me very much
a “food wine” and could stand up to quite spicy dishes. Surprisingly, the makers
suggest that it would go with roast pork and apple sauce. As they say in these
parts, “Up to you”.
