There’s nothing new about a Shiraz/Viognier blend but what about Malbec/Torrontes? And why haven’t we thought of this before?
At Decanter’s Argentina tasting this weekend, I tried a Malbec which had an attractive yet unusual orange blossom/flora character that I’d never experienced before. Does it have some Viognier in, I asked? No – Torrontes. Argentina’s two signature grapes in a blend together equals genius idea.
Tapiz’s new 08 Bicentanario is a blend of Malbec, Bonarda and Torrrontes. It was interesting and bloody delicious. The Torrontes really lifted the wine aromatically and provided freshness. But Tapiz was not the first to have come up with the idea…
Mauricio Lorca claims to be the first to release a Malbec Torrontes under the name ‘Malbrontes’! It seems like an obvious idea now it’s been done but why has it taken so long to someone to do it? Lorca says, “I don’t know. The general mentality of the commercial guys is that unusual things don’t sell so this kind of things has to come from a small producer.”
“When I first did the blend I showed the wine to my friends and they thought it was such an easy and friendly wine.”
It is a soft, juicy wine without much complexity but that’s what it’s meant to be – and at £8.99 in Harrods, it’s probably one of the cheapest things you’ll find in the store.
The Tapiz is a bit more serious, which you’d expect for £18.
Both producers ferment the varieties separately and then blend them together. Tapiz ages both the Malbec and Bonarda in oak before blending with the Torrontes while the Malbrontes sees no oak. Interestingly (if you’re an MW student, winemaker or geek), Lorca takes the Malbec juice off its skins after just 3 days of fermentation to minimise tannin extraction and then completes the ferment like a white wine in stainless steel at 18C. This maximises the aromatics giving blackberry, violets and lovely juiciness. For the Torrontes part of the blend, Lorca picks some of the fruit slightly underripe to give more acidity. Malolactic fermentation is avoided to maintain freshness.
So, are we going to see some more Malbrontes or Torronbec in the future? I hope so.
