by Victor de la Serna » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:00 am
Torrontés is a homonym: there are a few (related) torrontés varieties in Argentina, there's (unrelated) torrontés in Galicia, Spain and there's (again, unrelated) torrontés in Spain's Canary Islands, also called terrantez on Portugal's Madeira island.
The Argentine torrontés, mostly grown in the Salta region, was the first quality grape cultivar of the Vitis vinifera family ever originated in the Americas. Just as the natural crosses of cultivars that occurred in the field in Europe (such as sauvignon blanc X cabernet franc to produce cabernet sauvignon, or pinot X gouais blanc to produce chardonnay and several other varieties, or mondeuse blanche X dureza to produce syrah), cross pollination in the vineyards of colonial Argentina, possibly in the 18th century, between two European cultivars, muscat of Alexandria and the Canary Islands' listán prieto, produced torrontés. This was discovered rather recently, using Dr. Carole Meredith's DNA fingerprinting techniques.
Listán prieto is probably the same as the grape currently known as listán negro in the Canary Islands, and is locally known as criolla chica. It's the same as Chile's país and California's mission grape.
Torrontés riojano, among the various listán X muscat crosses that occurred in Argentina, is the one with the greatest potential for quality winemaking, and is the one planted in Salta.
