Alta Vista Premium' Mendoza Torrontes 2002

Pretty wine, homely label!' Rarely, has the adage, you can't drink a label' been more accurate than with the 2002 Alta Vista Torrontes. If what lies within is what counts, the Alta Vista Torrontes is not afraid to stand and deliver. It offers a lovely bouquet of rose petals, lichee and delicate spice, followed by a mouth full of ripe fruit and an exuberant finish that reminds you that this wine is indeed dry, but not desiccated. We suggest serving the 2002 Alta Vista Torrontes well chilled (40º- 45º F) on a hot summer day. Enjoy!

The 2002 Alta Vista Premium Torrontes is a fun summertime wine that craves food. We can recommend it with everything from apples to yucca, but many of our favorite selections remain tapas-style appetizers, stir-frys, spring rolls, and moderately spiced Asian dishes. The Alta Vista Torrontes is a natural foil to Vietnamese and Thai offerings, especially those dishes that have been prepared with lemongrass. White and red bean dishes do this wine justice, too. However, we must also put a plug in for serving the Alta Vista with a ripe avocado, stuffed with plenty baby shrimp. Yum!

Alta Vista is a family owned winery in the sprawling province of Mendoza, Argentina's largest and most important vitcultural area. In fact, winemaking is the Mendoza's only important industry. Here in the mighty Mendoza, in the foothills of the towering Andes at an elevation in excess of 3500 feet, the D'Aulan family cultivates the finest and most traditional of Argentinean grapes: Torrontes and Malbec. From the D'Aulan's pristine vineyards, many of which date from the 1940's, flow some of Argentina's most interesting and individual wines. And like all of the best hillside vineyards in the Mendoza, Alta Vista uses only the pure melting snows of the Andes to water its vineyards. In the Mendoza, rainfall is all but non-existent, but then again so are rot, mildew and the multitude of insects and vine diseases that afflict most other wine regions worldwide. At Alta Vista, which means high view, the grapes ripen slowly but completely due to the highest elevation and the sunniest weather of any viticultural area on earth. In the future, we can expect more good things from this up and coming producer.