Browse Tag

chile

Taking leave of

Sainsbury’s Cabernet Sauvignon (Valle Central) – Why the language switch for the appellation between this and the sauvignon blanc, I don’t know. I’m sure some focus group, somewhere, knows the answer. Sweet green pepper, synthetic and sticky fruit. I rarely think the cabernets are ideal candidates for cellar-dwelling price points, and sauvignon even less so than franc. This wine demonstrates why. An underripe festival of pyrazines would be one thing, but to add the sticky, plastic sugar element just to make things “more palatable” is triply wretched. No bargain at any cost. (3/11)

Marching in

Sainsbury’s Sauvignon Blanc (Central Valley) – A whole orchard full of grapefruit, lemon, lime, with just a hint of pith and bitterness. Good flavor for the money. (3/11)

Running for mayor

Santa Domingo “Casa Mayor” 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon (Colchagua Valley) – Better than last time, which is minor praise at best. Dark fruit with strappy greenness and tar. Drinkable in a pinch. Finishes like amaro, and not one of the good ones. (9/08)

M, Q, 007

[vineyard]Montes Alpha 2004 “M” (Santa Cruz) – Melon and maraschino cherry, plus a spectrum of fruit desiccation that runs from plum, to prune, to raising. Big and dark. Oaky, with solid tannin and lots of chocolate on the finish. Well put-together in the blindingly obvious New World style, and – of course – thoroughly anonymous. (2/08)

Lapostolle service

[bottle]Casa Lapostolle 2004 “Clos Apalta” (Colchagua) – Dense and thick, with an unpleasant mélange of bell peppers and chocolaty oak, which clamps down and arrests the finish. Not very good. (2/08)

Blech

Santa Domingo “Casa Mayor” 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon (Colchagua Valley) – Stewed herbs and residual sugar. This isn’t just horrible, this is an actual crime against nature and all that is good and decent in this universe. Among the worst wines I have ever tasted.

Yuck

Doña Domingo 2006 Chardonnay (Colchagua Valley) – Sweet and vile. More descriptors would require keeping this wine in my mouth longer, a possibility too horrifying to contemplate.