Yeah, so we’ve already talked about the Santa Julia Malbec and tonight we’re going a little crazy because we’ve found a white wine from the same folks.  The only catch is that this wine is from a torrontes grape.  Torrontés is a white Argentine wine grape variety, producing fresh, aromatic wines with moderate acidity, smooth texture and mouth-feel as well as distinctive peach and apricot aromas on the nose.  Keep that in mind…we’ll come back to it later.

We are closing in on the final days of our quest to taste and write about 365 different wines in 365 days.  While we are deeply appreciative of the following that has grown over the past eleven and a half months, we know that the world isn’t sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the next blog!  However, Doug – one of our followers asked ever so sweetly – and we paraphrase . . . “what, you can’t stop – i love your blog . . . can’t you just go on forever”.

Simply put, we have found an AMAZING number of wines over the past 353 days that reminds us of how many varietals, labels, wine makers and vintners there are in our world.  We thought that we’d scratch the surface of wines in a year’s time, but sadly, we aren’t even close.  Thank you to the comments that have asked us to continue on past our 365 days!  While we appreciate the comments and support, the budget isn’t as willing.  After reading a fair number of other blogs, we can tell you that all but one of our reviews have been wines purchased by us.  No freebies, no giveaways, no tainting the process; everything that  we’ve smelled, tasted, reviewed and written (other than the one bottle) has been purchased by us.  SO, if you wonder why we’re wrapping this puppy up in 10 days, well, the coffers are thin and we’ve accomplished our goal.

However, the best part of this journey (other than the wine) has been the comments, the followers and the friends who have stood up and joined us on our journey. . .from all over the country and the world!  It’s a medium like this that provides platforms for promoting something we love very much. . .good wine, good food and good friends!  Tonight’s wine is an extension of that very thought process.  Torrontes–a grape variety from Argentina.  Santa Julia, a wine maker from Mendoza, Argentina.  We previously tasted and wrote about their Malbec, but we had no idea about their home grown varietal until purchasing this Torrontes from Twin Liquors.

Three Torrontés varieties exist in Argentina: Torrontés Riojano, the most common, Torrontés Sanjuanino, and Torrontés Mendocino. It is primarily Torrontés Riojano that has received attention for the quality of its wines, and is the variety used for most Argentine wines simply labeled Torrontés.  Our wine tonight, a 2010 Torrontes was very tart from the beginning to the end.  Like biting into a granny smith apple, this wine had ‘pucker power’…yeah, it wasn’t a smooth and elegant wine.  It was more like an in-your-face-kick-butt wine!  Wines like this are tough to review because they have a flavor and aroma about them, but they aren’t necessarily big dog wines that you’d keep on your shelf for periods of time.  After plenty of tastes and sniffs, we pretty much decided that the wine is ‘nice’ but there is NO WAY that we’d consider adding this to our deck wine favorites. For the record, Kathryn – aka www.teamwhitaker.org – we have conquered the white . . . be proud!

In a perfect world, we’d keep right on writing.  But, let’s face it, ours is NOT a perfect world.  We have been reluctant (or scared) to tally up our “investment” in this past year’s blog.  When we write our final piece on August 31st, we’ll have talked about a LOT of wine that is available all over the State of Texas.  What happens after that. . .well, who knows but YOU will have a terrific opportunity to take the journey with us. . .try some of the wines and who knows, you may want to venture out on your own.

For us, we’re closing in on a finale.  For you, we hope that you’ll enjoy your favorite wine responsibly and remember to recycle whenever possible.