Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to another week, another tasting and another installment of the fine publication that is the Carpe Vinum Friday Flights Newsletter!  This week we’re heading down to South America to sample the much improved wines of Chile!

I say “much improved” because, up until recently my feelings on Chilean wines were quite mixed. People would call them “good value” wines, much in the same way a Kia is a “good value” car. In both cases, once you get the opportunity to open them up they start falling apart. Also like a Kia, if they were over 5 years old, everything inside needs to be replaced. But not any longer!

I started noticing Chilean wines again earlier in the year. (Last year, not the current year. . .earlier in THIS year would technically just be “last week”. . .but I digress.) I was expecting another harsh, fruitless bottle of red plonk, best suited for cleaning engine parts (of your Kia). I instead found a lush wine with balance and complexity. So I tried another, and that was good too! In fact, of the whole lineup of these wonderful reds that I tried there was nary a bad one in the bunch.I was totally aghast, confounded, confused, yet pleasantly surprised.

Could it be that the wines were just waiting for a decent vintage to come around? Had the winemakers learned something new? Or were the really good ones just reaching the market? At any rate, we’ve seen some marked improvements in the Chilean imports. It’s possible that the wine styles are now reflecting the growing traditions of a South American wine, not just attempted carbon-copies of their European cousins. As a result, we’re finding wines that are defining a new dawn of the wine scene in Chile. Of course some folks have thought the wines were decent all along and never saw the problems I did. I wonder what kind of car they drive.

So here’s a good cross-section of the most prominent grape varieties and interesting and delicious blends of Chilean wines. One of note is another triumphant return of the Super-Sweet-Fancy-Schmancy-Dessert-Pour! It’s a late-harvest Sauvignon Blanc. I had been turned onto it, and it sounded too fascinating to pass up.

So Friday, January 13th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Chilean Wines!!
Apaltagua 2003 Envero Carmenere, Colchagua Valley
Root : 1 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Valley
Viu Manent 2004 Malbec Reserve, Colchagua Valley
Guelbenzu 2003 Hoppe (Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere), Colchagua Valley
Vina Maquis 2003 Lien (Syrah, Carmenere, Petit Verdot, Malbec), Maipo Valley

More Chilean Wines!!
De Martino 2003 Single Vineyard Syrah, Colchagua Valley
Alvaro Espinosa 2003 Kuyen (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon), Maipo Valley

Super-Sweet-Fancy-Schmancy-Dessert-Pour!
Vina Echeverria 1999 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Molina Valley

Next Friday tasting is Tempranillo!