Enter Torrontes, the white wine that Argentina has begun to hang their hats on.  It has some of the light crisp characteristics of Albarino’s and Sauv. Blanc’s, but is very much its own varietal.  Some of the most interesting stuff I’ve found is grown at high altitude – over 5,000 feet – in the Calchaquíes Valleys of the North.

Here is a previous review – Nomade Torrontes.

Thus, Argentina is one of the two southern-most countries of South America – sharing the southern exposure with Chile (and it’s entire western border).   It shares northern borders with Uraguay, Brazil, Paraguay, and also Bolivia while the Atlantic Ocean dominates it’s eastern border.

Major population centers Beunos Aires and Cordoba are in the mid 30′ degrees south, or about equivalent with the length Los Angeles and San Francisco are from the equator.  The well known wine country of Mendoza is also around 35 degrees south and sits up against the Andes Mountain range, close to the Chile border.

Argentina is also, fittingly, becoming known for their fine wines – the signature of which is Malbec on the red side.

We kicked off Argentina month on Monday night, with our good friend the big cat, by enjoying some steaks and a bottle of Terrazas Reserva 2007 Malbec over a couple of great hours of conversation.

We’re looking forward to going beyond Steak and Malbec in Argentina this month.

Two weeks ago, the first Sunday of the Games, we set off, sans 9 month old daughter, to take in an Olympic Women’s hockey game, enjoy the food of Vancouver, and just to walk around town and to take it all in.  The hockey game saw Finland Beat Russia 5-1 and afterward we remembered where our all time favorite Japanese restaurant was, Gyoza King!

Sorry, eh, but Canada greeted us with sunshine and warmer temperatures and no frozen tundra in sight.  We had two perfect days to walk around and absord the Olympic energy.  Below are some of the highlights of our experience.

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Nk;mip is North America’s first Aboriginal owned and operated operation, and part of the Osooyos Indian Band’s long term plans for sustaining their land and way of life. The Vancouver Olympics have done a very nice job honoring and highlighting the impact of the native tribes on life in Canada.  Their vineyards are planted in the soils of the last remaining desert in Canada, and the northern most tip of the extensive desert that stretches all the way from the Baja peninsula in Mexico, through the American Southwest, and Northwest, all the way into Canada.

This was the quintessential white wine recommended by the good folks of Taylorwood Wines in Vancouver. We were particularly excited about this one after learning about the Canadian guidelines for simply describing the sweetness of wine on a 0-3 scale.  This Riesling came in at 1, I believe…

The Osooyos sub region of the Okanagan Valley is right on the US border and less than 2 hours from the cozy hamlet of Lake Chelan, which makes it even more understandable how this wine can easily compete with the best Rieslings of Washington State.  It  put forward a very nice peachy pear acidity to go along with the perfect amount of Riesling smooth sugar.