How the Wine Tasting spent its summer vacation

The Wine Tasting is an avid futbol (soccer) fan and spent its summer vacation at the World Cup. Upon its return to the Boston office, the Wine Tasting hosted a celebration of Argentina's second-place finish. We sampled a white wine and a red wine from Argentina, contrasted with a white and a red from Chile (all four from Trader Joe's). Here are some of the findings.

1. White – We tried a 2013 Alamos Torrontés by the Catena Family from Salta, Argentina. The Torrontés is one of the few new world grapes that makes drinkable wine. By all reports it is best drunk young, within a year of its vintage, so we seemed to be opening this bottle at its prime. No one was familiar with this varietal, so it was hard to verbalize what we were experiencing. My first reaction was "doggy," which uniformly baffled to the other tasters. I think I was reminded of the earthy slobber of a recently fetched stick. And I mean that in a good way: newly chewed wood with the sweet side of dog breath. (I think I'm digging myself a hole here.)

A second visit to this wine revealed an apricot aroma and a taste of apricot liqueur. And yet there was something more; not quite minty – perhaps basil? The tasters found this wine elusive but complex and appealing, and suggested the following food pairings: a) spicy food, leaning toward Indian, but the basil could make this the perfect complement to the right Thai dish; b) sitting on a porch in the summer eating fruit salad; c) I found myself craving banana cream pie with a dog lying at my feet.

2. White – The next bottle set a more grounding base level. We sampled a Chardonnay/Viognier blend by Viñedos Marchigüe from Colchagua Valley, Chile. There was an instantly familiar Chardonnay aroma but an unexpected non-fruity dryness with a touch of smoke. This wine was inoffensive, but it didn't wow anybody either. Decision: mezza mezz.

3. Red – Chile again, same producer, same region, this time a single-vineyard 2012 Carménère. This grape died out in Europe with the phylloxera blight of the 1800s, but transplants in Chile have been untouched and thriving for 150 years. And again it was hard to classify this unfamiliar varietal. Typical descriptions mention blueberry and mint, but we found this offering harshly tannic. Vigorous swirling in the glass softened it up a bit, and the most successful pairing on hand was Polcari's homemade salami. This Carménère shuns dainty finesse; the tasters imagined serving it with grilled tuna, grilled steak and mushrooms, or a grilled burger heavy on the onions.

4. Red – Back to Argentina with a 2011 Broquel Malbec by Bodegas Trapiche from the Mendoza region. This wine was easily the crowd pleaser. It was enjoyable on its own but also went well with many of the pairings: French sheep's-milk cheese (Brebis Abbaye de Belloc), stuffed mushroom caps, Lindt cabernet dark chocolate ... you name it. Pick up a bottle for your next dinner party; you can't go wrong.

So that's it from southern South America. Argentina re-defeats Chile 2–0. Next month the Wine Tasting honors the World Cup victor with an Oktoberfest of German wines. Stay tuned.