I’ve spent a certain amount of time and space in this column
discussing “the next big thing” trendiness of wines, which sometimes goes to
grapes, such as what happened with Pinot Noir after a very popular movie, but
also goes to regions, such as France for a long, long time, but also including
Spain and Australia. After the wines of Spain were driven up in price by
demand, the search was on for another hidden gem and a lot of noise was made
about Argentina and Chile. Those two South American regions have at least some
decent entries, but for all the testing I did, it didn’t quite bear out. I
have, in fact, after somewhat extensive testing (it’s generally the same for
each region, depending on availability) a single entry from Argentina (the
Navarro Correas, which was the second edition of the HSC) and a single entry
from Chile, which is this one.
Unlike Argentina, which relies somewhat heavily on the
Malbec grape, Chilean wines trend much more heavily towards Carmenere, such as
this one. Carmenere can be a very bitey grape in a wine, often hidden behind
waves of astringency which never quite vanish. This is one of the smoother ones
and represents perhaps the best introduction to this grape, which can be quite
capable in the right hands. What we have here is another fruit-forward wine
that smooths out nicely, retaining a good bit of acidity and tannins to provide
an excellent balance. It is definitely not a one-note wine, though and a good
deal of complexity will appear as it breathes. It does not make a good slugging
wine, but as a sipping wine, it’s right up there with the best. This is another
that will do better the more it breathes, but it needs a good 20 minutes
initial air time.
At $10 a bottle, this is easily one of the best values on
the list and as such, makes an easy Standard, just like the other South
American entry, the Navarro Correas.
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