CITY Issue 57

WINE NEXT BIG VIN What does it take for a wine variety to make the jump from obscure local favorite to international player? Plenty of patience. Sophie Donelson uncorks the story behind Torrontés, Argentina’s (maybe, possibly) new wine star. T THREE TORRONTÉS TO TRY: PLATA, COLOMÉ, AND CRIOS DE SUS AND BALBO his grape is gonna blow up!” That was New o k estau ateu D ew Niepo ent oa ing about his glass of To ontés to a table of foodies one summe night in gentina. Niepo ent’s enthusiasm fo the local white was mo e audible than othe guests’, but the sentiment was especially poignant deep in the hea t of Malbec count y. nd despite the nea -exhausted palates of the global connoisseu s, Niepo ent’s a ia was just one in a weeklong cho us of To ontés p aise at this yea ’s Maste s of Food & Wine, a mode n-day bacchanalia held eve y Feb ua y at the Pa k Hyatt hotel in Mendoza. To ontés is both g ape and wine, an a omatic, almost pe fumed white that smells like ﬂowe s and f uit yet has the qui k of being completely d y on the tongue. gentines know this al eady because it’s al eady a hit in its homeland (whe e it is the most-planted white), and now local winemake s a e eady to make it a household name in the States, c ossing thei ﬁ nge s that To ontés will get the same eception as thei b eadwinning Malbec. nd if Niepo ent’s gut is ight-on, it will. Just not yet. e swilling my weight in the stuﬀ, I jetted back to New o k conﬁdent that To ontés, with its allu ing a oma and sweet Latin- me ican p ice tag, would become a summe accesso y as c ucial as my aviato s. But save fo a few bottles, a scou of New o k’s wine empo iums le me d y. So I que ied a wineindust y f iend: What gives? “Wines ‘make it’ fo one of two easons,” he told me. “Eithe the buye thinks it’s a deal too good to pass up o it’s delicious — sex in a bottle.” s pe taste, many expe ts liken To ontés to Viognie and because it’s best enjoyed within two yea s, it’s plenty salable. But even success in both categoies doesn’t speed up the jou ney of a good wine f om bodega to, well, bodega. “It’s a matte of time,” says Geoﬀ Cheeping, an independent wine b oke based on Long Island, New o k. He estimates that f om the moment a label deems its juice good enough fo expo t, it’s still a yea until it lands at you local wine shop “and two yea s to get eal t action.” Especially t ue fo my favo ite bottle, Colomé, which makes the pilg image f om Salta’s Calchaqui Valley, a sunny, chilly, wind-swept spot nea the Bolivian bo de in no thwest gentina — and also the highest-altitude vineya d in the wo ld. (The wine, in tu n, is o ganic and biodynamic — who needs pesticides when natu e’s on you side?) Waiting fo Cheeping’s estimate wasn’t going to cut it, not when I knew it would widen the eyes of guests at this season’s osé-satu ated oo op pa ties. Even an textbook To ontés has a come-hithe scent — honeysuckle o jasmine o ose plus t opical f uit. But then it gets t icky. s soon as it hits the tongue that sweetness disappea s and an asse tive, almost tangy acidity steps in. It’s a pleasu able bait and switch. “I’ve neve had a To ontés I didn’t like,” claims Niepo ent, who is looking to add one to his lists at T ibeca G ill and Nobu. “It’s diﬀe ent and ve y ef eshing — and economical.” That last pa t can’t be ove stated. The few bottles ﬂoating a ound the States — and I did ﬁ nd some — a e all unde . (Thanks to the handsome exchange of th ee gentine pesos to the dolla .) But it also unde sco es the aspect about To ontés that makes it quite unlike Malbec. Pat icia O tiz of Fincas Patagónicas vineya d, whose Zolo label p oduces a ﬁ ne bottle, says it quite bluntly: “It’ll neve be a g eat g ape.” She explains that, like many a mino -league ball playe , its physique is simply not made to do ext ao dina y things. dds Niepo ent: “It’s not a p estige wine, it’s an eve yday wine.” But that didn’t stop him f om whipping out a bottle fo an ’ s pop sta that d opped by T ibeca G ill ecently. t midtown Manhattan’s chichi The Mode n estauant, sommelie Belinda Chang, a champion of New Wo ld wines, oﬀe s To ontés by the glass and bottle. “People see ‘ gentina’ and they’ e open to t ying it because they’ e al eady into the eds,” she says. “The e a en’t too many to discove , but what’s on the ma ket is usually ve y high quality.” Pe haps that’s because gentines d ink the plonk themselves. The count y — the wo ld’s ﬁ h-la gest p oduce — consumes a ound pe cent of its bottles and has only in the past few yea s sta ted elinquishing its stash, usually thei ﬁ nest. So as expo ts g ow (and they’ e g owing), so will the quality. But until the p estige cases a ive, Chang tells dine s to enjoy it with ﬁsh, c udo, and spicy o cit us-y dishes. “ nything that tastes good with Riesling will wo k with To ontés.” Which means Chinese and Thai takeout, too. With that in mind, I etu ned to my wine pal’s fo mula. Is To ontés a deal? bsolutely. Sex in a bottle? Maybe just thi d base. But fo a daily indulgence, that’s well wo th the wait. CITY TY 49

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City Issue 57 Contents Letter from City Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment Temporary Contemporary In Rouge Fast Food The Amused Bouche How We Live/The Kitchen Taste Test Dessert Wine Going Local Expert Opinion Travel Employees Only Summer Showers Wild Things Be There at 10 P.M. Sharp If... Where To Buy It Icon

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