Drinking More Chilean Wine

Posted on January 24, 2009 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I received this wine from the PR folks for Wines of Chile

Continuing down the road of tasting wines from Chile in 2009, I chose the 2007 Cono Sur 20 Barrels Pinot Noir for the evening. The story of the 20 Barrels is that the winery designates 20 barrels of Pinot Noir as the best of the year and sets them aside for a special barreling. Hence the name! The wine hails from the Casablanca Valley in Chile, clocks in at 14% alcohol by volume, has a real cork closure, and can be purchased for around $22-$25.

On the nose I found strawberry, tobacco, cherry, spice, herbs, brown sugar, and bright fruit. the nose displayed fairly classic varietal characteristics which made me happy…Pinot Noir that does that under the $30 markseems increasing hard to find!  In the mouth, the fruit seemed darker than what I found on the nose.  I got black cherry, raspberries, plums, a little earth, and cinnamon.

The wine had some tannins, it is very young afterall, and appeared to me as if it could use a bit more time to mellow…maybe decant this one!  While we drank it on its own, it would have been great with all the salmon we ate this summer, or with an herbed roast chicken dish.

Filed under: Chile, Pinot Noir, Red, Wine | 9 Comments »