Susana Balbo Signature White Blend: Talking about a revolution

That Susana Balbo has been a pioneering force in Argentine (and South American) wine goes without saying.

Her talent as a winemaker, entrepreneurial spirit, resilience in the face of many challenges and the way in which she has reframed the possibilities for women in the wine industry make her one of the sector’s most respected names.

Which explains her worthy inclusion in Decanter’s Hall of Fame in 2024.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Susana Balbo’s eight vintages of Signature White Blend

Landmark year

Serendipitously – and rather symbolically – the bestowment of Decanter’s lifetime achievement award coincided with the 25th anniversary of Balbo’s eponymous project, founded in 1999 as Dominio del Plata. Her winery and range now bear her name – appropriately, for hers are wines with a very personal imprint.

Beyond the Hall of Fame recognition, the quarter-century anniversary was marked by the release of a special library edition of Cabernet Sauvignon from the flagship Nosotros range.

However, rather than merely celebrating her achievements, Balbo used the landmark year to consider the evolution of one of her now best-known – and itself pioneering – wines, the Signature White Blend.

A vertical tasting of all vintages since the inaugural 2016 provided an opportunity to consider the wine’s evolution and potential, as well as its meaning for South American wine more broadly.

Indeed, if South America has now firmly established itself as a safe source of fine red wine – of consistent quality, expressiveness and collectability – the full potential for premium whites is yet to be fully unleashed. But a revolution is afoot, with Balbo’s Signature White Blend a strong step forward – for the path it has opened and questions it has raised.

Balbo herself recognises that the Signature White Blend is a work in progress; a journey of learning – as ever – and discovery that shows a humble recognition of work yet to be done.

Embracing the challenge

The genesis of a Bordeaux-inspired white blend was a visit by Tim Atkin MW to Balbo’s winery in Mendoza.

‘Chatting to Susana Balbo one day, I bemoaned the relative shortage of good white blends in Argentina,’ explains Atkin.

Wouldn’t there be potential to produce an age-worthy wine, Argentine in its essence, to rival the world’s best whites and match the country’s great reds? ‘So a week later, we sat down with a Sémillon from Mendel, a Sauvignon Blanc from Giuseppe Franceschini and her own Torrontés and played with some components for fun.’

Not one to shy away from a good challenge and always driven by great curiosity (creative as well as technical) Balbo set out to add the experiment to her aptly-named Signature range.

‘Little did I imagine that she would go ahead and make a wine based on our cuvée. Not only that, she improved on it,’ Atkin continues.

Queen of Torrontés – and much more

Having started her career in the cradle of Torrontés Riojano, in Cafayate (Salta), and often referred to as the ‘Queen’ of Argentina’s flagship white variety (see latest releases of her Signature Barrel Fermented and Late Harvest iterations for proof), Balbo was well placed to make the best of the variety’s aromatic and textural potential, alongside classical French counterparts.

Balbo says that blending is the winemaker’s greatest skill; the ability to produce something that is more than the sum of its parts. The signature White Blend indeed shows how Torrontés, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon can work to each other’s benefit: the florality of Torrontés outlined by Sauvignon’s herbaceousness; the woolly weight of Sémillon (especially with some years in bottle) lifted by the aromatic vividness of its counterparts; the zesty scalpel of Sauvignon softened by the barrel-aged Torrontés and unctuous Sémillon.

‘Textural’ is a word often used to describe this wine. Texture is indeed central to the identity of the wine, a product of multiple, complementary factors. The Sémillon and Sauvignon grapes undergo pre-fermentative maceration; Sauvignon and Torrontés are fermented in oak, where they are kept on the lees for two months; the final blend ages for up to six months in barrel (60% of which new).

The subtle phenolic grip at the core of this wine is key to its medium-term development, showing particularly well in vintages 2018 to 2020.

Vintages 2016 and 2017, with the weighty, nutty depth of Sémillon emerging more vividly, suggest there’s great potential for this to become a wine designed to be drunk with even more time in bottle.

Leveraging further potential

Which left me wondering whether Balbo is treading too carefully. Could Torrontés be brought to the forefront, especially in vintages where Sauvigon Blanc tends to dominate the aromatic palette and the wine therefore seems a bit more removed from its place? Is there perhaps potential for more ageing in barrel?

Some vintages seem to suggest that the marrying of the blend and the textural potential would benefit from a bit more wood. And moving the dial into slightly more oxidative territory might add an interesting depth of field. If so, more extended macerations might add complexity without loss of elegance.

Such questions would not be asked, however, if the wine did not show, already, the character, poise and evolution potential of a great white. Atkin says that since its first vintage, the Signature White Blend ‘has gone on to become one of South America’s finest and most distinctive whites’.

‘The first one was good, of course, but since then she’s refined the blend and improved the quality. I’m proud to have inspired her to make something so good.’

Curiosity and anticipation is how we’ll wait to see how Balbo takes it further.

Susana Balbo Signature White Blend – all released vintages scored and tasted:

Wines in order of release, with latest release shown first. 

Related articles

• South American whites: a new era
• Susana Balbo: Decanter Hall of Fame 2024
• Susana Balbo Torrontés: Taking Argentina to new heights