2008 Charles Pulenta “Tomero” Torrontés
Score: 94
Price: $12.99
A gorgeous dry white that was so aromatic and balanced that I thought it was an excellent example of Gewurtztraminer from Alsace, one of my favorite wine regions. Great with or without food. And, at $13, this excellent example of Argentina’s flagship white won’t break the wallet.
Argentina Has Arrived.
Cafayate, Salta. Photo by jlborelli
Even though Argentina has been cultivating the vine for hundreds of years, global recognition has only come very recently.
By all accounts a lack of focus on quality was holding the region back in a big way. In fact as recently as 2002 in Exploring Wine, the fine folks at the Culinary Institute of America penned the following not-so-fine words about Argentinian wines:
“It really is a shame that Argentina’s wine industry does not appear to have the collective consciousness needed to compete in a quality-driven export market, because it has all the raw materials necessary to do a good job.”
The authors (Steve Koplan, Brian Smith and Michael Weiss) also note Argentina’s “comical exercise to improve wines” during the 90s and conclude that “[t]his is hardly the stuff that will keep ultra-competitive Chilean producers awake at night.”
Brutal stuff, to be sure.
But then there’s this entry for Argentina from Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine (3rd edition, 2006):
“Argentina, the most important wine-producing country in South America, and, since the late 1990s one of the most dynamic wine producers in the world.”
Talk about 180s! The impressive turnaround is due chiefly to improved economic conditions in Argentina during the last decade, as well as a slew of foreign investments in winemaking operations, flying winemakers, and an overarching move to quality in Mendoza and beyond.
The vineyards in Argentina are almost all located at high elevations, but none reach quite as high as those found in Cafayate, in the provence of Salta. Perched at 5500 feet above sea level, the temperature differential between day and night (called diurnal variation by meteorologists) at these vineyards can reach 60Ëš. Growers in Cafayate claim their vineyards are the highest in the world, and while that may or may not be true, they’re certainly producing the best wines of anyone growing at that altitude.
Salta, and Cafayate in particular, is blessed with an arid climate and poor soils, which are ideal conditions for Argentina’s flagship white grape Torrontés. The vineyards are irrigated with meltwater from the Andes via diversion or by wells which can push up to an astonishing 66,000 gallons of water per hour. Flood and furrow irrigation are both still used, though high end producers and those with an emphasis on exports are quickly moving to drip irrigation for the level of control it affords. Since this is the Southern Hemisphere, harvest starts in February and usually ends around April, just when vines in the Northern Hemisphere are waking up.
Winemaking for Torrontés is fairly uniform among the better producers, but if it isn’t properly managed in the vineyard Torrontés can become overripe and alcoholic with an unpleasant bitterness. Some also complain of persistent lemon Pledge aromas among the lesser examples. Native yeast and very cool ferments (~60ËšF) in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks are the norm. Wines are filtered to prevent malolactic fermentation and in general see no oak.
Charles Pulenta Winery.
Pulenta Winery
Argentina’s water distribution system is widely considered a world class affair, and the story of the Tomero, literally a “water supplier”, and the development of viticulture in Argentina are closely intertwined.
According to the winery the Tomero is responsible for administering the water rights from the Andes meltwater to property owners by lifting and closing irrigation channel gates for set periods of time. Tomeros typically pass their profession down to their children, and so a family tradition was built between the families that delivered the water to the croplands and the landowners who paid them to do so.
Pulenta Winery has two lines of wines at different price points with different aging potential. The Tomero line is meant for early release, and are less expensive wines than their Vistalba counterparts.
Winery owner Charels Pulenta is a veteran of the Argentinian wine industry and made his name while working for Peñaflor for 25 years. His family owns almost 1000 acres of vines, and his new 20,000-case winery was completed in 2002 in Mendoza.
The winery is gravity flow and sports cement tanks designed by Pulenta himself. They are formed with heating and cooling lines inside them for precise temperature control. The climate in the winery is likewise impeccably controlled, with wines raised in a cradle of constant 58ËšF temps and 80% humidity.
The Torrontés grapes that go into the Tomero line come from 20 year old vines and are hand picked and sorted at the winery. There are three recognized varieties of Torrontés grown in Argentina, with the Torrontés Riojano the most widely favored by critics – and also the most widely planted at 20,000 acres. Along with its sibling Torrontés Sanjuanino, Riojano is the offspring of Muscat of Alexandria and the Mission grape, Criolla Chica. Though the label and data sheet don’t say it, it is safe to assume that the variety in Tomero is Riojano since Cafayate is that strain’s natural home.
Blind Tasting.
Tasted double blind, the wine was aromatically intense, with lots of lychee, floral and citrus aromas. Medium (+) acidity and a medium (+) body complimented the fresh citrus notes on the palate. Medium alcohol and dry. The finish is long and refreshing. Based on the above, especially the body and alcohol, coupled with the balance and good overall quality, I guessed a Gewurtztraminer from Alsace.
Labs.
Here is a case where the data sheet numbers almost exactly match the ones from the independent lab tests. That’s a pretty good sign that the winery has its stuff together.
Also, since nothing really stood out as objectionable or imbalanced in the Torrontés, lab numbers really can’t tell the story of why the wine is excellent. In this case at least, the labs are entirely superfluous.
One thing I might note is that I didn’t find any mineral notes in this wine and, interestingly, sulfur levels are pretty low for such a low pH white wine. Food for thought for those who claim that the descriptor “minerality” might actually come from sulfites.
A bit of a geeky aside on SO2. Most concepts in winemaking are fairly straightforward. It’s relatively easy to understand how higher levels of oak or tannin will impact a wine. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is different. At the simplest level, you add SO2 to wine to prevent it from oxidizing and to inhibit the growth of bacteria. Where it gets a little more complicated however is when you are trying to understand how effective a given addition of sulfur will be. Ideally you want to add the bare minimum that you can get away with, and still be confident that your wine won’t spoil on the shelf or in the cellar.
In new world winemaking especially, this can be a bit of a problem. Since our grapes are typically riper and less acidic at harvest, our wines have higher pH. This confounds the use of SO2 because at higher pH, SO2 becomes almost completely ineffective. The graph to the right shows that to get an industry standard level of protection (.8 mg/L), you have to use almost 9.5 times as much SO2 in a wine with a pH of 4 compared to one with a pH of 3. Put another way, the effectiveness of a sulfur addition drops from 6% to just a little over .6% over the 3 to 4.0 pH range.
Conclusion: Surprised By Excellence.
Since I score based upon the type of wine under review, a high score for a Torrontés doesn’t necessarily mean I prefer it over, say, a lower scoring Pinot noir. If it’s close, I will likely prefer the pinot. That’s just how I was made.
But we don’t often compare Hondas with Ferraris. They are completely different machines, and deserve to be judged on what they were designed to do. The same, I think, is true with wine varieties and styles.
This Torrontés surprised me with its excellence. It is the best Torrontés I’ve encountered, and among dry aromatic whites it ranks very favorably as well. The fact that I mistook it for an Alsatian Gewurtz is quite a compliment for an unheralded variety that began its ascendence less than 10 years ago. That it’s also inexpensive relative to other excellent whites on the market, if not to other Torrontés, also helps.
In short, this is an excellent wine at a very good value. What more can you ask for?
Josh Hermsmeyer, 11-2-09