2015 Pascual Toso Barrancas Toso Red Wine Mendoza Argentina 750 ml

Just Don’t Call It Asado

When the smoke started, it seemed like a good time to leave.

It was Sunday, the day after a trade tasting on our last trip to South America, and Matías and his crew of Argentinian sommeliers had invited us over to drink some bubbly. But after an hour or so, we started to feel underfoot, as everyone seemed to hop to work, lighting a fire under a massive grill and hauling in armload after armload of wood. But as we started to rise, Matías, looking confused, stopped us. “What are you doing?” he asked us, trying to hide his offense.  

We told him we could tell they were getting ready for something big, and that we felt like we were in the way.

“In the way?” he said, puzzled. “But this is all for you guys.”

It was a sheepish start to the most delicious asado we’d ever been treated to: Slabs of Argentine beef, hitting the grill bright red, and coming off perfected charred. We enjoyed piece after piece of thinly-sliced beef. It wasn’t lunch, and it wasn’t dinner. It was an all-day, nonstop feast. And we washed down every bite with the 2015 Pascual Toso Barrancas Malbec-Cabernet, a ruby-red, full-bodied James Suckling favorite from one of the most historic wineries in the country.

When they were carrying the wood in, one of Matías’s friends had snuck in a case. It was perfect for the asado or any occasion near a grill: deep and concentrated and showing the super-juicy red and blue fruits, layers of dark cocoa and fresh tobacco, along the perfect amount of tannin and a lengthy finish. Still, we couldn’t hide our surprise that these somms were serving something so...

“Tradicional, I know,” Matías said, holding up a bottle of Toso when we asked him. “But this wine is Argentina.” He trailed off as he searched for words. “In the USA, you have your Napa Cabs,” one said. “In Argentina, we have Toso.”

Toso has a long history. Founded by Italian immigrant Pascual Toso in 1890, it’s one of the most revered Argentine wineries—not unlike Mondavi—and that’s not it’s only Napa connection. Toso’s consulting winemaker is Paul Hobbs, who not only had a hand in creating Opus One and has scored a 100-point Napa wine, but is a prominent figure in Argentina, having long ago been struck by the same kind of potential as Pascual Toso had seen a century earlier. No winemaker has a more magical touch in South America than Hobbs, as he has turned in a slew of 98- and 99-point wines from Argentina’s bounty.

After night had fallen—about eight hours after we first tried to leave—we thanked Matías and laughed about the miscommunication. We told him we couldn’t wait to throw the same kind of party, with the Toso, when we got home. That’s great, Matías told us, before his face got deadly serious. “But unless you’re from Argentina,” he warned us. “You can’t call it asado.” He burst into a big grin, and we were on our way.