La Puerta, Torrontes, 2010, La Rioja, Argentina

I'm in the rank armpit of a Canadian heat wave. People here are simply not accustomed to dealing with intense heat. They get quite unhinged. I choose to look on the bright side of things - white wine tastes amazing when you are glazed with varnish of sweat. And the wine drinking makes the state of being unhinged a lot more entertaining. Finally, hot weather also trims your criteria for white wine down to a very manageable list: it must be ice cold, clean, acidic, and possess delicately refreshing fruit. So long live the heatwave. I'm a big fan of Argentinian Torrontes. It pulls through on all of these key indicators and is especially forgiving with respect to price. This is one of my everyday wines. La Puerta is no glory-boat. It's salt of the earth. Sub-$10. Your nonno would approve. I'm matching it with some mussels with double smoked bacon, blue cheese and more Torrontes.

Crios, Torrontes, 2009, Argentina

I've been accused of holding a pretty open grudge against the white wines of the world. Okay, considering that the first four wines featured in this blog have been red, I'll concede the point. Or at least I'll concede the basis for some basic confusion. I'd argue that the one-sided selection process has more to do with the weather in Canada during the months of December through March. A harsh meteorological reality. One that lends itself to braised shanks, oven-roasted birds, fall-off the bone stews consisting of noble hoofed beasts. And meat goes with red wine. Or does it? Jancis Robinson says, "it is body that matters more than colour." I'm interested.

Luca Malbec, 2008. Mendoza, Argentina

Me and my buddy Jared were over at the Prohibition Gastropub on Queen St. East - a place best known for grafting duck confit onto Quebecois-style poutine - when I asked him what would come to mind if I shouted 'Malbec!'

     "Argentina"

     "What else?"

     "Big."

     "Big how?" 

     "Big fruit."

I forgave Jared his blunt answer and the possible innuendo associated with that 'big fruit' comment. There was duck confit poutine involved. It tends to narrow the visual focus to a circumference about the size of a poutine ramekim and atrophy the vocabulary. [...]