Susana Balbo Wines : Latest releases tasted
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Steven Spurrier tastes the latest wines from Susana Balbo, the forward looking winemaker who has been at the forefront of the Argentinian wine scene for over 30 years...

Scroll down to see Steven’s tasting notes

Susana Balbo was Argentina’s first female enologist after graduating with honours from the Don Bosco University in Mendoza in 1981. Her first job took her north to Salta, where her first vintage of premium Torrontes attracted significant attention.

Innovation

Innovation being her driving force, she has experimented with barrel volumes from 160 to 6,500 litres, tested wild versus cultured yeasts, and has finally settled on concrete eggs for fermentation. The egg’s porous concrete breathes like oak yet allows the wine to develop as if it were made in stainless steel, resulting in a pure expression of fruit with a richer, more complex mouthfeel.

Next generation

As a leader of the industry, she has been elected three times as President of Wines of Argentina. In 2011 and 2012 her son José and her daughter Ana joined her to help build Susana Balbo Wines to where it is today and beyond.

That Susana and her children continually seek uncharted territory (both geographically and technically) was supremely evident from a recent tasting of a dozen wines at 67 Pall Mall, five of which are selected below.

Steven Spurrier’s tasting notes:

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Steven Spurrier
Steven Spurrier
Decanter Magazine, Consultant Editor
Decanter’s consultant editor Steven Spurrier joined the wine trade in London in 1964 and later moved to Paris where he bought a wine shop in 1971, and then opened L’Academie du Vin, France’s first private wine school in 1973. Spurrier staged the historic 1976 blind tasting between wines from California and France, the Judgment of Paris, and in the 1980s he wrote several wine books and created the Christie’s Wine Course with then senior wine director Michael Broadbent, a veteran Decanter columnist. In 1988 Spurrier returned to the UK to focus on writing and consultancy, with his clients including Singapore Airlines. He has won several awards, including Le Personalité de l’Année (oenology) 1988 for services to French wine and the Maestro Award in honour of California wine legend André Tchelistcheff (2011) and is president of the Circle of Wine Writers as well as founding the Wine Society of India. He also produced his own wine, Bride Valley Brut, from his vines in Dorset.