An Argentinian winemaker created the first white wine Malbec.
Bodega Trivento winemaker Maximiliano Ortiz’s new white Malbec has just been released in the United States. “We are the first winery to create this style of wine, a (Malbec) white wine made with red grapes,” says Ortiz. “In a way, we have developed a new category of wine.”
Trivento White Malbec 2022 was just released in the United States, and it retails for a suggested price of $11. White Malbec is a milestone for Ortiz, who began experimenting with the idea in 2018.
For starters, Ortiz replaced the 2019 harvest date of March, the same harvest date as before, to the last week of January, when the grapes weren’t as ripe. “We have a smooth, fast press to separate the skin from the pulp, and then we add oxygen to the fermentation, with the concept of burning off the color of the fermentation, and it was trial and error,” Ortiz explains.
The first White Malbec was bottled into only 30,000 cases, and the current vintage has grown now to a release of 160,000 cases. “The 2019 was the first vintage, and it was a good product, but the 2022, the current vintage we’ve just released, and the 2023…I think we have an amazing product,” Ortiz says. “Every year we improved on the techniques.”
“What people love about this wine is that it’s completely different,” Ortiz says. “When you say Malbec, people think of a wine with a lot of red color and red fruit aromas. This is a completely different product. You have the essence of (a regular) Malbec, but in a different format.”
The wine’s appearance, he says, “isn’t just white: it’s crystal clear, beautiful, and water-like. “”First you look at the color, then you smell the wine, and first you smell the aroma of the green apple, which is very pleasant if you’re drinking a Malbec,” he says. “Then you smell the cherries, the strawberries and you smell the soft tannins. You have the tannins, but you also have the acidity of a white wine.
White Malbec has been a wonderful boon in Mexico, where, with an import of only 5,000 cases, it has now increased to 7,000 cases. It has also been good luck, he says, in the UK. “It is a wine that is attracting new consumers,” says Ortiz.
White Malbec is ideal for the summer. ” It’s a very comfortable wine, and you don’t need food to enjoy it, but it’s a very convivial wine,” says Ortiz. Unlike regular Malbec, which goes very well with heavy meats. and barbecue, white Malbec pairs wonderfully with seafood, fish and chicken, as well as salads and vegetables.
White Malbec may not be Trivento’s latest innovation, he says. “Every year we work with other things, but the next one is a big secret, so I can’t reveal it yet,” he says, adding that consumers must be looking for something new on the horizon next year.