Wino Wednesday: Argentine Wines!

On our third stop on our wine tour of the world, we tried Argentinian wines and, looking to try some new cuisine, I volunteered to host. My mom informed me that my ancestors came to Puerto Rico from Argentina, so it was fitting. Most of their food involves cheese, so I know I'd fit in.

I served: provoleta, which is grilled provolone cheese with spices, sliced manchego and cooked chorizo. Sadly, the provoleta hardened faster than anticipated, so we were having to slice it, rather than dip it, but it was still delicious!

I was excited to finally use a tablecloth I bought a year ago at an antique store only to realize it was too small for my main dining room table!

To set the mood, I picked out bright flowers and lit candles, but most importantly, I played a four-hour Spotify tango mix! It got me in the mood to watch So You Think You Can Dance.

We also had chipotle chicken empanadas, which were a serious labor of love, you guys. Tutorial forthcoming, but know that while they weren't the easiest/quickest dish to make, they were GONE in a blink. Sean was all about them.

We also had skirt steak, with a choice of chimichurri sauce or salsa criolla, an Argentine salsa made with red and green bell peppers with tomatoes. My wonderful, amazing husband agreed to help me out by making the steak and maybe got a little too excited, so we had a 20-minute diversion of trying to clear smoke from the apartment. Fun!

Argentina has two big specialties it's known for: its torrontes wines and its malbecs. We sampled a couple Torrontes wines, and I must say: new favorite! I'm not a big chardonnay person, but this was like the middle ground between a riesling and a chardonnay...just sweet enough and just dry enough. Perfect for summer! We had:

• Trivento Torrontes, which was my favorite (and mine, yay!). It was fruity and sweet and effervescent and just all around pleasurable to drink. Loved it!
• Mendoza Station Torrontes, another great white with a strong bouquet (ooh, I'm so fancy). Erica said all of Mendoza Station's wines are excellent and inexpensive.

• Finca Flinchman Tupungato, a delicious red blend of cabernet, malbec and merlot.
• Finca Roja Pinot Noir, a super fragrant, plummy pinot with "velvety tannins." Usually, we'd laugh at that, but it was seriously velvety smooth and probably one of my favorite pinots ever.

We finished the night off with my homemade coconut dulce de leche ice cream, using this recipe. For reasons I'll never understand, my ice cream looked absolutely nothing like the ice cream in the tutorial, but it tasted delicious!