In these days of single-varietal familiar wines, how difficult can be to find out about one particular grape? Very difficult actually.

Torrontes has been discovered by the Argentinians but, it apperas, nobody else has taken the time or effort. So where did it come from?

Again, except for a handful of specialist writers, nobody has anything to declare.

One lone Spanish volume contains the following short entry: "Torrontes is a white variety originally from Galicia which yields wines with little body and good acidity, great personality and intense flavour. This grape is planted in Galicia and Cordoba".

Great personality huh? Perhaps is worth seeking out after all.

Torrontes was once quite widely grown in the region of Galicia in northwest Spain, just above Portugal.

According to Spanish wine expert Gerry Dawes, in the 1400s and 1500s the town of Ribadabia was well known for its Torrontes, which sold for high prices in Europe.

The grape's next brush with fame (decades and centuries of obscurity later) came in the 1980s with the discovery of Rias Baixas.

Torrontes caught a glimmer of the spotlight as it sat in the Rias Baixas blend alongside the much-vaunted Albariño, but this brush with the high life did not last long.

The Spanish and British adoration for Albariño soon meant that Torrontes was no longer required, and although traditionalists stood firm in believing Rias Baixas to be far better and more complex with the full complement of grapes, the modern view held that Albariño was better on its own. Spanish Torrontes has been relegated almost solely to the wines of Ribeira.

People began to notice Torrontes in Argentina in the 1970s, when improved quality controls filtered into the wineries and vineyards. Torrontes needs cool fermentation to preserve its amazing flavours.

It actually arrived in Argentina a long time before this. Some people say it came with the Jesuit Missions of the 1500s, others with Spanish conquerors in the 1800s, but again nobody knows.

What they first noticed was its distinctively aromatic character (peachy to some, Muscaty/grapey to others), and its heady and attractive nature. In weight and mouthfeel it's not unlike an Alsace wine, with crispness and richness at the same time.

Excerpt from Decanter Magazine UK - Author: Susan Keevil