The winner bags this trophy for the second year running...
naEtchart, Privado Torrontés, Salta, Argentina 2010
This is the second consecutive year that this wine wins this regional trophy, an impressive record. This Torrontés feels like those unusually sunny English summer days. It is very expressive but not explosive and it has the right balance between freshness and brightness. When it comes to Torrontés and Cafayate Etchart knows.
Their first vineyard was planted in 1863 and is still producing grapes. Quality has been at the forefront since Arnaldo B. Etchart bought the winery from a relative in 1938 and set out to become a synonym with the valley. Torrontés is to Cafayate what Sauvignon Blanc is to Marlborough; the only difference is that the latter is indigenous to Argentina. If this region is not better known it is because it is very small.
But it is in Cafayate, with its high altitude and sunny days and cool nights, where Torrontés thrives retaining the all-important acidity and resulting, at its best, in wines of greater intensity and complexity.
The 2010 vintage is Etchart’s 47th vintage of the Privado Torrontés. The winemaker, Victor Marcantoni, explains that they aim to produce Torrontés wines that are distinguished, with finesse and elegance, but with expressiveness and structure.
This wine relies purely on the quality of its grapes; it is unoaked and has not undergone malolactic fermentation to accentuate its freshness and purity. With this regional trophy Etchart, owned by French group Pernod Ricard since 1996, leads the way forward with a style that this panel can only hope to see many more of.
Written by Marina Gayan MW
