Megamoon Part IV: Chile
Tasting in Santiago and visit to Colchagua Valley
Tasted Friday, October 30, 2015 - Saturday, October 31, 2015 by MC2 Wines with 546 views
Introduction
This was our first visit to Chile and unfortunately a rather quick one. During our initial trip research it came out that >90% of all Chilean wine is exported and often available for less money in the US than in their own country. Originally I'd assumed this was driven by economics, but apparently it is also partially driven by the very low wine consumption in the country and a lack of interest in the premium wines. Interesting given that Santiago is now the most expensive city to live in in South America (having recently passed the Brazil cities). Also interesting because doing a standard one day tasting in Chile is more expensive than Napa, Australia, Italy, or Mendoza while the wines that are tasted tend to be a bit cheaper than those in the other countries mentioned. As a result, we opted to spend more of our trip in Argentina (Mendoza and Salta) as only about 20% of the production there is exported.
Chile's wine region though is just stunning. There's the coastal mountains on one side and the Andes on the other and the valleys are beautiful and green. We were there in their spring so lots of wild flowers growing. I think this was a bit atypical, but there had been some rains (positive for the country given it's in a 6 year drought) and so lots of life was popping up. The country also feels like it still might be finding it's feet with wine tourism, but I could imagine it doing very well.
Flight 1 - Santaigo wine tasting w/Amanda (8 Notes)
Our introduction to Chilean wine was with Amanda Barnes who hosted a tasting for us in Santiago. The goal of the tasting was to provide a nice overview of the different types of wine being made in Chile and a beginning of an understanding of the different areas. We'd also requested trying an Altair as unlike many other premium wines from Chile, those are not readily available in the US. The Altair was the clear winner from the group, but I did find it interesting to try some more of the cooler (coastal) climate wines (esp the Syrah) and to get a better understanding of Chilean whites.
Flight 2 - Laura Hartwig (4 Notes)
The tour begins with a horsedrawn carriage trip around the vineyards. While there are >200 acres planted, only about 50 acres go into the Laura Hartwig wines. There's some interesting experimentation going on here with a 100% Petit Verdot and some new varieties (mainly blending grapes from France) which are being tested. The wine making process itself is fairly standard although their 'cave' is a standalone building and so learning more about how they think about maintaining humidity (it's a very dry climate) was interesting. They are also more of a boutique producer (~12,000 cases) and so very few wines make the US (just the base level Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon). The others are mostly distributed to Asia and South America.
Flight 3 - Neyen (4 Notes)
My favorite visit of the day. The 125 year old vines are spectacular and interesting to learn a bit more about how they consider the farming or how they looked to increase the amount of plants (the original plantings were very spread apart). The care and effort that goes into the creation of the wine seems more akin to a Napa cult than a wine that can be found for <$50. It was also very interesting to do the vertical and understand a bit more about how the wine varies in the different years. Neyen was also one of the original advocates of the gravity approach to winemaking which was evident in their set-up.
Flight 4 - Casa Lapostolle (5 Notes)
We did both the lunch as well as the tour and tasting. Casa Lapostolle has one of the only caves in the region (rationale being that it is very expensive to create a cave). It was interesting to learn about the economics of the wine. For them (as for many) the high end wines are more for fun and to create the brand, but the real profit comes from more of the entry level wines that they are able to sell. The location we visited (the Apalta estate) was focused though on the Clos Apalta wine. This was a bit more of the standard cookie-cutter tour although the lunch was quite good and we enjoyed the wine pairings.
Closing
From a best way to maximize the wine you taste, I'd recommend doing something like what we did in Santiago proper to get an understanding across the different Chilean wine regions. They are vast and incredibly varied. Interesting to learn about the areas with more of the coastal influence versus the Andes versus the valleys in between. Also very different weather characteristics. I think it was great to do the visit to one of the valleys, but we did find the pricing for that a bit more prohibitive than other wine regions so wouldn't have wanted to spend multiple days. The upside is many areas are convenient to Santiago and many of those that are convenient to Santiago are quite varied.
My favorite of the wines we tried was the Altair. Seemed to be in it's own class although the Clos Apalta with some more time could get there. From a visit perspective Neyen was very interesting with the 125 year old vines and some of the different ways they've approached vineyard management. Also interesting to do a vertical. Many folks told us that Chile doesn't have the same vintage variation that some other wine regions have, but we did see differences in the verticals (it's possible it's just not something that the wineries are truly focusing on now). Certainly the industry is more in its infancy. Although wine has been made in Chile for many hundreds of years, the idea of being in the premium space (I think they would say >$10/bottle) is relatively new. Some of the concepts of creating wines to age or creating wines to be approachable now are topics that they didn't seem to have thought about as much as some other places, but perhaps that makes sense. Will also be interesting to see how consumption changes in the country itself given the very high export approach. Overall though, it is true what they say on the QPR on Chilean wines and there are some very interesting options both on the red and white side (I'd not realized 40% of Chile's premium wine production is white).
NV Miguel Torres País Santa Digna Estelado Rose 87 Points
Chile, Maule Valley
(10/30/2015)
This was a good wine for what it is. Retails in Santiago for approx $15 US and so as the previous note mentioned this isn't a particularly complex or overly interesting wine. It's more fun, easy drinking, pink bubbles. Dry, but lots of fruit flavor (mostly strawberries). Good hot afternoon drinker or party wine.
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2015 Tabalí Sauvignon Blanc Reserva Especial 87 Points
Chile, Limarí Valley
(10/30/2015)
The first 2015 wine that we've had this was the example wine from the very northern part of Chile in the coastal region. As with a lot of the Chilean whites that we tried my first impression was green. Lots of grass, minerals, high acidity, the mid-palette is quite strong in flavor. Could be an interesting food wine I think, but not for sipping on its own.
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2015 Casa Marin Riesling Miramar 87 Points
Chile, San Antonio Valley
(10/30/2015)
Again a lot more green flavor (this time a bit odd as while I associate the grassiness with Sauvignon Blanc, I don't really with Riesling). It's a super dry style, more mineral, low fruit, great acidity.
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NV Terroir Sonoro El Impostor Cinsault de Aguja - Seco 83 Points
Chile, Itata Valley
(10/30/2015)
Very different wine. This is part of the more edgy Chilean wine movement. Was served in a beer bottle. Suspect it's a non vintage or at least no vintage information that we saw. Wine is mostly bright red fruits but with a strong balancing funky characteristic (the type of taste one typically associates with completely organic wine perhaps). Very high acidity. Interesting to try, but not something that I'd actively seek out. Could work as an alternative to a beer at a baseball game or something similar.
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2012 Undurraga Carignan Terroir Hunter (TH) 87 Points
Chile, Maule Valley
(10/30/2015)
Made from 40+ year old vines and with a minimum of 65% carginan. Strong earth character, a bit of acidity, a touch of tannin (but mostly have found chilean wines don't have the same strength of tannin), a bit of bell pepper. It was interesting to try the single varietal and haven't had Carignan before in that format (only as a blending grape).
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2012 Valle Secreto Cabernet Sauvignon First Edition Cachapoal Valley 89 Points
Chile, Rapel Valley, Cachapoal Valley
(10/30/2015)
Very much the standard Cabernet characteristics, but that isn't a bad thing. It was overshadowed a bit by the Altair which was just a more complete and complex wine (although also a different price point). This had a lot of bell pepper, sour red fruit, and earth.
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2013 Matetic Vineyards Syrah Corralillo 92 Points
Chile, San Antonio Valley
(10/30/2015)
This wine begs to be drunk with a nice meat (prob lamb). It's meaty itself and funky and very savory characteristics all around. Enjoyed it.
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2013 Viña San Pedro Altaïr 93 Points
Chile, Rapel Valley, Cachapoal Valley
(10/30/2015)
Clear winner of the tasting and really just on a different level than the other wines that we had that day (actually my favorite wine of the entire Chile trip). Nice and complex this wine has some floral flavors, dark red fruit, earthiness. Softer wine that was actually drinking ok now but could clearly handle some years of age as well. Later paired with a steak and the wine does very well with red meat.
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