Winemaker: Ruben Sfragara
Grape: Torrontes
Region: Salta (Cafayate), Argentina
During their stay in Argentina in the 1980’s, Patrick d’Aulan with his beautiful wife Kristen created a high quality sparkling wine. Bubbles were nothing new to this talented pair – the worldwide known champagne Piper Heidsieck also carried their name.
But when d’Aulan family discovered the beauty and potential of Argentinian varieties as Malbec and Torrontes, they decided to invest in the land and founded Bodega Alta Vista. Their new mission was to produce top quality Argentinian wines and introduce their local varieties, then not widely known, to the rest of the world.
I believe that it was also Patrick and Kristen, who originally brought famous winemaker Michel Rolland to Argentina. It started a whole new era of foreigner winemaking and investment in local vineyards. Argentina became a showcase for many talented winemakers. Besides the Alta Vista wines, d’Aulan family later became a part of Michel Rolland’s 7 winemaker’s circle, involved in a very successful Clos de Los Siete project.
Bodega Alta Vista in Argentina is only a small percentage of d’Aulan’s wine mission – they are also part of Edonia group, a French family owned company engaged in the production of high quality wines in France (Champagne, Calvados, and Saint Estephe + Saint Emilion in Bordeaux), Argentina (Cafayate and Mendoza) and Hungary (Tokaj).
The family wine experience of several generations, their passion for different styles of wines and the fact that they purchased some of the world’s highest vineyards in the northern Argentine region of Salta – all of these ingredients were a recipe for d’Aulan family’s business success.
Alta Vista was one of the first wineries to invest in this region and today they own 20 acres of 60 year old Malbec vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo, 195 acres of mixed vineyards at the same region (all 1,050 m above the sea level) and almost 370 acres of land in Valle de Uco (about 180 acres planted with vine).
The Torrontes that comes from these vineyards is considered some of the best in the world. After a brief maceration on the skins, the Premium Torrontes is fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. There is no malolactic fermentation or oak aging. That allows the wine to develop rich and concentrated flavors with a very clean fruit expression.
Tasting notes:
Straw yellow wine with delicate floral, lime and honey aromas. Not that it’s sweet. This really is a white wine unlike anything you had before – fruity with perfect balance of crispy acidity. On the palate you can taste notes of peaches, lemon and honey. This is a lot of complex flavor for around 10 dollars. Nicely done! Beautiful for sipping on its own or paired with a seafood.
Dry – Off dry – Medium sweet – Sweet
Light – Medium – Full body
No oak – Aged in oak
Retail price: around $ 10.00
Ideal food pairing:
Seafood salad, Shrimp in mustard sauce, chicken, fresh salad with balsamic vinaigrette and apples, all kinds of tapas, Chinese food, Indian food, My happy tilapia, Light quinoa salad, or our crisp pork medallions with creamy caper sauce, Grilled trout, Angel hair pasta with spicy seafood
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