I had the privilege of visiting Chile Peru and Bolivia a few years ago, for what turned out to be the adventure of a lifetime. Part of the extensive research in the buildup was learning something about South American wines beyond Concha Y Toro, but oddly we drank very little of it while we were there.
Two friends visited ore recently, and brought back two bottles as gifts. I had no idea where these wines sat in terms of quality or price, but with a garlic infused roast beef and the first shards of winter in the air, it seemed like a good time to take a look at them and research the wines a little.
2007 Santa Rite Medalla Real Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Valley Chile
Inky and opaque, purple red right at the rim. Nose of overripe orange and dusty cedar cupboard and very ripe blackberry pastilles. There’s another little element here and its an unfortunate one – paint stripper. Palate is lush in its attack, slightly viscous in its movement through the mouth, and again shows the super ripe blackberry pastille palate, tinged with varietal cabernet capsicum and tomato leaf. There’s a touch of asparagus and canned pea here too – a little bit of DMS? It takes a few mouthfuls to really build tannin presence. And there is that same undercurrent of abrasive paint stripper quality on a finish that shows a bit more warmth than its 14% would imply. Built to drink early, this is a big bold commercially oriented style.
I have no idea where this was sourced or what it cost but Winesearcher turns up lots of hits about $A13 in the US. At that price its punching above its weight for density of fruit if nothing else.
2007 Felipe Rutini Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina
Also weighs in at about $A15 on winesearcher. To keep the story short – these were very generous gifts from someone who didn’t need to do that – however I’m most grateful to reacquaint myself with South American wines once again.
Straight malbec is something of a mystery to me, apart from the murmurings about a buttery flavoured red grape that is only good for blending. Until Argentina came along, growing the stuff in impossibly high Mendoza.
This is also very dark in hue, similar to its Chilean cousin. The nose is much more subtle – plum skins, cola, menthol. The front palate is a textural thing at first, although after a bit I think this would be a cracker options wine. The tannins are all front palate and cheeks, there’s a whiff of green herb and canned peas – which so far makes it a cabernet. But the fruit settles across the mid palate – no Cabernet hole here. Ripe, cherry cola like (think Dr Pepper) with that same fishermans friend lift in the mouth, with ample grainy tannins to finish, this is made for a steak.
Once again, great effort for the money – although I suspect Australia’s tax system and freight would see this at $35ish by the time it hit the shelves.
Cheers
Andrew
Pork on the BBQ - time for some riesling goodness. Two forms of goodness in fact - the Auburn Riesling Jelly, and this spätlese from the Nahe.
Nose is slatey sulphur, peach apricot and lemon.
Initial attack is lemon tinged slate. There’s a joyful energy to this that might be a Nahe character, which seems to be present in Helmut Donnhoff’s wines as well.
A real twang to the palate, with a filigree of lemony acidity woven through the weighty, apricot touched mandarins and cumquats with some dried sage and thyme spice and some early hints of petrol. In time the acid threads should stand out more, but for now the mid palate and finish sees the fruit is firmly to the fore, with a honey like texture that is only just cut by its acid. A weighty, flavour packed wine which could have done with a gram or two more acid for drinking now. There’s also a powdery, icing sugar character on the finish which is sometimes a sign of riesling about to dry out - so I tihnk I’ll take the money and run. Drink soon.
Pasta Putanesca. Big robust, savoury flavours. Sangiovese might not quite cut it, so something weightier is required to create the match – a syrah sangiovese blend might do the trick.
Castagna is a small biodynamic vineyard at Beechworth in Central Victoria, who grow Syrah, Viognier and some Sangiovese. “Un Segreto” is a blend of the two red varieties that they have made in a few vintages, and seems to get a little lift and savoury twist from the Sangio to support a core of Syrah.
Still a very dark purple black in the glass. Smells of treebark and savoury brown spices, over graphite, bitumen and black cherries. Castagna’s Syrah wines have a signature cherry and black pepper profile, and with the sangovese added this seems to be reinforced rather than blended out. There’s an initial belt of VA here too, which lifts up purple jubes, licorice and black marker pen. The palate is perhaps more elegant than the nose suggests. Tannins are fine and plentiful and have a sangiovese signature that seems to be sawn pine to me, closing out what turns out to be a nicely balanced medium weight wine where the syrah fruit speaks more than the sangiovese savouriness right now. This is still quite primary, and will probably evolve for a few more years yet.
Did it work with the putanesca? Maybe. The food was tasty, we were hungry, it lasted 2 minutes. 2/3 of the bottle was still left to contemplate with some cheese,
Here’s two tasting notes. The first is what I think I would have written if I got this wine blind:
What’s this, an obscure rhone variety? Packs the heat and red fruits and redskin lolly that can come with Grenache, along with some chocolately coffee oak. Mid weight only, and has lovely fine tannins to finish. Got me stumped, Garnatxa from Spain? Carignan? Cinsault? Couniose? Tasty warm climate wine. Whatever it is.
The second is what I wrote when I tasted the wine, knowing what it was.
Dark colour. Nice redcurrant fruits…but loads of alcohol and probably too much oak. This is very much in the dry red end of pinot noir. Good length, but turns in the glass after an hour of slow sipping and becomes unpleasant.
No point in trying to draw too many conclusions here. Sometimes this happens with Pinot Noir. Someone makes something that doesn’t fit into the Burgundy Box (or any other Pinot Noir stereotype for that matter). Not the first time this has happened. With with an open mind, these can still be good enough wines.
Shame this was an $80 bottle though -the 2006 Daniel Schuster Omihi Hills Pinot Noir.