Torrontés

Torrontés is Argentina's signature white grape and it is not one grape but three, all crossings of the criolla chica with muscat of Alexandria. Torrontés riojano is the most planted and the best of them, torrontés sanjuanino and torrontés mendocino are the others, and they are rarely distinguished on a label. The muscat parentage explains the perfume.

The wine smells sweet and tastes dry, which catches people out. The nose is rose petal, geranium, white peach and orange blossom, as loud as gewurztraminer, and the palate is crisp and dry with moderate acidity and a faintly bitter finish. Picking date decides everything: left too long the acidity falls away and the wine turns flabby and bitter.

The best comes from the Calchaquí valleys in Salta, in the far north west, where vineyards at Cafayate sit above 1,700 metres and some reach 3,000. The nights there are cold enough to hold acidity that the latitude would otherwise destroy. La Rioja and Mendoza grow larger volumes at lower altitude for a simpler wine.