Pircas Negras Torrontés and poisson cru

 

Argentine Torrontés

So let me get this straight...

You put de lime in de coconut, you drank ‘em bot’ up...

At least that’s what goes on in my mind when I pop a bottle of Argentina’s 2008 Pircas Negras Torrontés (about $10); a luscious white wine made from a grape originally indigenous to Galicia in Spain, but which has evolved as Argentina’s signature, and most popular, white.

¿Por qué no para ti? The nice thing about the Pircas Negras is that it starts off amazingly tropical – suggestions of exotic flowers, ripe papaya and, for all the world, avocado and cream – in the nose, and off-dry (just whispers of sweetness) on the palate. 

Once past the first sip, slightly lemony, zesty qualities balance out the fruitiness, and the wine finishes pretty much dry, the crisp acidity lightening the easy, tropical sensations. If this weren’t a wine, I’d be tempted to top it with a wedge of pineapple, plastic monkey or umbrella.

Besides being certified organically grown, this wine is also vegan (unlike most wines, not filtered or fined with the use of egg whites, casein, gelatin or isinglass), and is selling quite well in specialty stores in the Colorado Front Range (for online shoppers, re Organic Vintners).

Although this is also a wine that you don’t have to think too deeply about – drink it with anything, or nothing at all – it does make a nice match for a Tahitian style of lime marinated tuna called Poisson Cru (in Tahitian, E’ia Ota). If you’re not totally familiar with South Pacific style raw fish, go a little easy on the lime and coconut milk your first time around. 

Needless to say, the higher the quality of tuna, the lusher the poisson cru. Otherwise, think of this match – particularly the sun kissed fruitiness, balancing acidity and silken textures in both the wine and the dish – as being as effortless as a dip in a clear, heated, indoor pool (not a bad idea, here in the dead of winter). Doctor!

Tahiti's poisson cru.


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