Amancay Winery Reserve Torrontes La Rioja (2014)

This is an Argentinian white wine that David chose when we were on a Trader Joe’s wine binge (well, maybe not a binge, but stocking up before we escaped to Florida, which, while great to visit, does not have a Trader Joe’s anywhere near where we stay). 

We drank this Torrontes La Rioja chilled and paired it with LEFTOVERS J.  Cuz nuttin’ pairs better with leftovers than a cold Torrontes, right?

Very reasonably priced wine from Argentina

And speaking of cold, did you know that the United States is the only country that has refused to switch to metric??  When I was in school I remember that they tried to teach us about the metric system for a couple of years before they gave up - you know, these are centimeters, this is a meter, and hey, how about if we measure temperature in CELSIUS instead of Fahrenheit??  I mention this because this bottle of wine says it should be served at “10 degrees Celsius”.  Then, for the morons in America, they have to save space on the label to let us know that in our slow-to-adapt-something-that-everyone-else-uses, that means 50 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Other than the recommended serving temperature, this label also says that this wine is “An intense white wine, showing mandarin, rose petal, and tropical fruit flavors, along with a crisp, juicy finish that will leave you enchanted.”  Damn – enchanted??  That’s a pretty high bar you are settin’ for yourselves there, Amancay Winery! 

This wine has a fun to say name!

Let me spend just a second more on the LABEL – it looks a bit like a junior high school student drew it…  Maybe it is supposed to be a dock, a boardwalk perhaps, with some fencing around it and a mountain…  The mountain seems to have a bit of DEPTH to it, making me think that they spent extra money to get a fancy LABEL, but they didn’t spend extra money on the ARTIST…  I am gonna guess they held a contest in the local junior high school and the winner got his/her artwork on a bottle of wine. 

See how the mountains have a bit of RELIEF??  Extra money for that, I am sure!

Now – the WINE.  David says he chose it because we hadn’t had it before and it has a name that is fun to pronounce.  “I think this thing is doing all of the things that it wants to do, and doing them well, but they are not things that I really ENJOY.  I think this wine has a little bit too much PAINT THINNER notes to it for my taste…  It out-chardonnays chardonnay in terms of that strong flavor…  I like a LIGHTER white wine.  But if you like to drink turpentine, then  this is your wine!  I will say, it does pair well with leftovers…  I suggest serving it with leftovers (as opposed to wasting a good meal on it)…  I give it a 2.5.  I think it does what it wants to do, it is just not what I like.”

Here is my take:  one time we went to a winery in St. Augustine, Florida* (DO NOT LAUGH, we realize that in and of itself is a ridiculous concept…  Winery + Florida does not = a good experience…)  Anyway, we WENT TO A WINERY IN FLORIDA.  While there, we drank a wine that tasted, I kid you not, like CAT PEE.  It was incredible!!!  It had a cat pee SCENT and a cat pee TASTE!  Not that we had partaken of a glass of cat pee prior to that evening, but we all agreed that the wine being poured was CAT PEE FLAVORED!

David and my sister slamming back some cat pee flavored wine in Florida - ahhh those were the days...

This bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s (Amancay Winery Reserve Torrontes La Rioja) also tastes a bit like cat pee!!!  Not as much as the super pee-flavored one we had at the Florida winery, but this has more than a hint of “cat pee” in it. 

All in all, this is not as horrible as the FLORIDA CAT PEE wine, but it is still not being added to our “Hey, pick up a bottle of that next time you are at Trader Joe’s!” list.   We DID finish this bottle.  Heck, we have only thrown away 2 bottles of opened, unfinished wine ever (one being “Scary Clown Wine” reviewed here:  Scary Clown Wine

I agree with David on the score – I will give it a 2.5, too.  But maybe someone who reads this will like it better than we did.  J

While in St. Augustine, Florida we popped by the Fountain of Youth, but it was closed.
However, that didn't stop us from letting the magical powers of the fountain from erasing all of our wrinkles!

Price – $6.99

Rating – 2.5

*If you want to taste the cat pee wine, I can’t remember which one it was that we tasted, but you can go on the tour of St. Sebastian Winery and taste it for yourself!  The tour was sweet and it was very fun tasting their wines, even if one of them WAS cat pee flavored.  Here is their website:  San Sebastian Winery