Domingo Molino – Torrontés – 2010

Allspice, Turkish Delight, cinnamon, aniseed balls. A dry, acid finish. Relatively short, a wine that is giving everything upfront, but a real hit by the Torrontés norm; would give many a Gewürztraminer a serious run for its money.  

86/100

Perdriel Selección – Sauvignon Blanc – 2012

Oak-aged Sauvignon can be a funny thing (particularly when it comes from the New World and not France); it seems to lose those flavours that make it varietally distinctive (gooseberries, nettles, sometimes more tropical fruit) and become stony and austere, but with the promise of good aging. I’m not sure how long it will take for the promise in this wine to be realised, but at the moment there is more structure than flavour here. Five years?

From Perdriel, a sub-region within Argentina’s Mendoza province.

84/100

Bramare – Viña Cobos – Chardonnay – 2010

Argentinean, and classically New Worldy in style; tropical fruit (I’m thinking lime Opal Fruits) with a fat, oaky presence; N1 says vanilla pods sticking out of a spit-roasted pineapple. I am torn between describing it as more Californian or more Australian. 

85/100

Finca La Anita – Sémillon – 2008

Like 70% of Argentinean wines, from Mendoza province. I was very surprised to see the close to amber colour of this wine – not usual in young white wines. Made in a highly oxidative style, with a lot of sweet oak and little fruit flavour left, this is highly reminiscent of traditionally-styled white Rioja. Fennel, and a whiff of acacia honey (although very dry). I love the style, and such a surprise to find it in such a young wine.

86/100

Zuccardi – Late harvest Torrontés – 2009

Argentina. Medium sweet – about Auslese weight, 8.5% alcohol. Almost white. Orange blossom water or squash; N1 says, “Orangina” and never goes near it again. Decidedly flabby, and none of the complex, attractive aromatics the best Torrontés wines can have. Nothing to recommend this, to be honest.

<70/100