£22–£26.50, The Great Wine Co, Vinvm, The Whalley Wine Shop, Noble Green Wines, Shelved Wine, The Great Wine Co, The Fine Wine Co, Just in Cases
If you’re looking for a really interesting and unusual bottle to give to a wine lover, your search ends with this stellar Argentine white.
It's one of those wines that keeps on giving. The more you taste, the more you find. It’s still young – it’s a white wine made to age – but it’s got so much going for it already that it’s pretty well irresistible.
It’s pale and wonderfully aromatic, with passion fruit, nettles, grapefruit and quince. Then the palate darts in, racy, lively and snappy before filling out into a cushion of rounded, creamy, lanolin texture streaked with herbal and mineral notes. Drifts of green fruit, peach and green spice follow, then a ping of grapefruit. And just when you think you’re at the end, it goes on and on, one encore after another.
As a name, Signature White Blend doesn’t give much away, but anyone aware that Susana Balbo is known as the queen of Torrontés will probably put two and two together and guess that Argentina’s distinctive white grape variety is responsible for some of the heady aromas.
It is, but there’s less than 30% Torrontés in the 2022. The rest is the white Bordeaux duo of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, 38% and 34% respectively. The blend varies with every vintage.
The vines are in Paraje Altamira in Valle de Uco in Mendoza at an elevation of 1,150m, which is a good start, but it’s how the fruit is vinified that creates the texture, complexity and ageing potential.
After maceration, pressing and fining, the Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc are fermented with ambient yeasts, the Sémillon in concrete eggs and the Sauvignon in barrels. The Torrontés isn’t macerated during pressing and once it's finished fermenting it’s aged on lees for two months.
I thought that Signature White Blend would accomodate Asian spices and it did, but what surprised me was that it wasn’t too aromatic for smoked salmon. It also went with pork with a fennel gratin, a fluffy swede and cheddar gratin and anchovy stuffed olives. What didn’t work was the sweet intensity of caramelised, roast butternut squash, but who eats that on its own? 12%. Empty bottle weight: 696g.
Susana Balbo Signature White Blend 2022, Valle de Uco, Mendoza, Argentina
£22.50–£26.50, The Great Wine Co, Vinvm, The Whalley Wine Shop, Shelved Wine; £113.62–£135 for 6, Great Wines Direct, The Fine Wine Co, Just in Cases
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