Toro goes back to the late 1890s in Mendoza, when two immigrants, the Swiss Bautista Gargantini and the Italian Juan Giol, rented a small winery with only three barrels. Their wine was first sold as Cabeza de Toro, then as Vino Toro, and the motto was a wine made by workers for workers. The bull's head became their emblem, painted on casks and facades at their huge winery in Maipú, which by Argentina's centenary in 1910 was considered the biggest in the world.
Centenario is the Malbec in the range, a 100 per cent Mendoza wine that sits a step above the everyday Toro. It leans towards blackberry and mulberry, with plum, cherry and a savoury note of soy in the background. The palate is velvety, with plenty of dark fruit and a soft finish rather than aggressive tannins.
A grilled steak is where this Malbec belongs. It stands up to ribs, sausages and lamb, and it is a good fit for beef or venison stews. A shepherd's pie works well too, because the soft tannins don't fight with the gravy.