Nomade Wine & Farmers Market Soup

Gosh, I cannot believe how fast these weekends travel by us! It was Friday, now it is Monday! Well of course my Saturday morning was spent at the Farmers Market collecting bags full of fresh produce. And wow, did they ever have the variety! Everything is coming ripe at the same time! Now what am I going to do with all of this fresh food - eat! But I cannot even begin to prepare my dish until I have selected a wine to accompany me on my cooking journey.

I enjoyed a 2006 Nomade Torrontes produced by Tomas Achaval Wines and Vineyards which is located in Cafayate, Calchaqui Valley, Salta, Argentina. This wine was made from 100% Torrontes grapes. Torrontes is the most distinctive of all Argentina wines. Being the only country to produce this grape, it is considered a wholly Aregentina variety. This superb wine was born in a beautiful and super high vineyard at 5,445 feet located in Cafayate in the middle of the Calchaqui Valley which is the best and most famous Andean Valley for Torrontes. On the nose on uncorking was tons of floral aromas and they sorta reminded me of a Riesling with that distinct floral bouquet. On the palate of this full bodied white, which by the way has a 13.7% alcohol volume, was loads of fruit, such as oranges and pears. These flavors were very intense and full in the mouth, almost coating the palate, producing a terrific long finish that was smooth and satisfying. This wine paired very well with my "throw together veggie soup", as I made it spicy with fresh cayenne peppers from the farmers market.

It was fun making the "throw together soup". I decided to use one of everything I purchased at the market for a soup. One vendor even had dried beans and I added a handful of them. The only thing not from the market was the veggie stock, wine and garlic. With my fresh soup and lovely wine, what a better way to start the end of the day!

Cheers!