Wine For a Cause

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Sonadora

Normally I don’t write about wines I haven’t tried or press releases or such.  However, a friend has a daughter diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and she asked me if I could please mention a new fundraiser, Angels in Action, for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation that began this month.  Viña Montes Wines is donating 10% of the wholesale sales cost of every bottle of their wine sold in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

Now, I know nothing about the wine. However, if you are looking to try something new and happen to see this on the shelves (sold at lots of shops, Costco, and Total Wine), perhaps give a bottle a try and help support a great cause.  Read the whole press release here.  Alternatively, you can always donate directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation here.

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Filed under: Chile, Wine | 1 Comment »

More Chilean Pinot Noir

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from the PR folks for Wines of Chile.

Told you I found some lost tasting notes! I think this 2009 Ritual Veramonte Pinot Noir was the second wine for the Chilean Tasting. Veramonte is a winery that I have recommended many times in the past, particularly for their Sauvignon Blanc. This time I’ll give out a hearty recommendation to the Ritual Pinot Noir. The Ritual had a real cork closure, clocked in at 14% alcohol by volume, and retails for about $18.

Four takeaways from this wine:

1.) At $18 this is a wallet friendly option for Thanksgiving. Or Tuesday.

2.) The nose and the palate both had a lot going on. I love that at this price point.

3.) Veramonte wines continue to deliver bang for the buck for me.

4.) This wine could help sway me to the “fan of Chilean Pinot Noir” camp.

On the nose I found cigarette smoke, barnyard, earth, leather, a meaty note, herbs, and berry. In the mouth I got dark berries, earth, leather, mint, Vicks Vapor Rub, and more dark fruit.  This is not a light and delicate Pinot Noir. It is a bigger and darker version, so keep that in mind if you are going to go for it.

 

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Onward with Chilean Pinot Noir

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Sonadora

*I received this wine as a sample from the PR folks for Wines of Chile.

Alas, I was so close to catching up on my older tasting notes. And yet again I failed. I pulled out a notebook to jot down notes for the Carmenere and Curry Chilean Wine Tasting the other night and lo and behold discovered some notes from the April Pinot Noir and Syrah Chilean Tasting. Not wanting to fail in my self-proscribed mission of detailing all the wines I taste, I thus present you with the first note I found. This is for the 2009 Valdivieso Reserva Pinot Noir. It had a screw cap closure, clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume, and retails for about $17.

Four takeaways from this wine:

1.) It needed time for the alcohol to blow off and settle in.

2.) The nose offered up a lot more than the palate delivered.

3.) I think perhaps $14ish would be a better price point for this wine.

4.) Overall the jury is still out for me on Chilean Pinot Noir.

On the nose I found sour cherry, earth, cinnamon, spice, a little pepper, and leather.  In the mouth I got cherry, dark cherry, and sour cherry. The palate was a bit simple, offering only cherries to me, but it had good structure and acidity.

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Too Green For Me

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I received this wine to participate in a Wines of Chile online tasting.

I’ve previously talked (written?) about the Wines of Chile online tastings that I sometimes participate in. For this one, the tasting focused on Carmenere based wines. Carmenere can, for me, still be a pretty wild and untamed grape. One of the wines for this tasting was the 2007 Terra Andina Altos 2007 Carmenere Carignan. It had a real cork closure, clocked in at 14% alcohol by volume, and retails for around $15.

Four takeaways from this wine:

1.) The finish was sharp. I’m not sure time would help this.

2.) On the other hand, the nose was quite intriguing.

3.) I prefer Carmenere without Carignan.

4.) Green pepper notes can be a good or bad thing. In this case I am not a fan.

On the nose I got green pepper, pepper, black plum, blackberry, oak, licorice, and espresso. In the mouth I found the wine to be spicy and sharp, especially on the finish. I got green pepper, blackberry, black plum, and strong coffee notes.

 

Filed under: Carignane, Chile, Wine | 1 Comment »

Speed Tasting #12

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Sonadora

2008 Maycas del Limari Reserva Especial Chardonnay. From Chile. From a totally arid area. I haven’t had too much Chardonnay from Chile but I’m seeing it more and more. Can smell the slight oak on the nose with some smoke and cream. Apple and pear. Creamy oak and apples on the palate. Retails for $18-$22. 850 cases distributed to the US. Lots of pear.

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In Chile Again

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from the PR folks for Wines of Chile in order to participate in a live tasting event.

I’m still meandering my way through older online tastings. However, we’re finally well into 2011, which means I’m almost there. Almost there. I can do it. I participated in a Wines of Chile Carmenere tasting earlier this year. I know I’ve told you about these tastings, which I find completely fascinating. The Wines of Chile Folks gather 8 wine makers from Chilean wineries and send one wine from each winery. Each night has a theme. Then, over a video cast the tasters get to see and hear the wine makers talk about their wines as they taste along with us and answer our questions. One of the wines for this tasting was the 2007 Cono Sur Vision Carmenere which had a real cork closure, clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, and is available for as little as $10 online.

On the nose I found eucalyptus, spice, pepper, blackberry, forest, Christmas tree, and black cherry. In the mouth I got black cherry, blackberry, spice, pepper, and anise. The palate seemed fruitier to me than the nose. While the nose yielded some fruit, it was mostly spice and forest aromas. The fruits on the palate had good acidity and were followed by a slightly tannic finish.

Filed under: Chile, Red, Wine | 2 Comments »

Another Chilean

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I received this wine to participate in a Wines of Chile Tasting.

This is the last wine from this tasting. I think. Woot! One step closer to being caught up on all the posts I owe you from that time!  This particular wine came from a Wines of Chile red blends tasting, which was very interesting and exposed the wine bloggers to an array of blends outside the norm. The 2005 Valdivieso Eclat clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and retails for around $24. It’s a blend of 56% Carignan, 24% Mouvedre, and 20% Syrah.

I found this to be a very dark wine. It showed black fruit, blackberry, earth, plums, and a touch of raspberry on the edges. I thought the nose was dominated by the Syrah. In the mouth I got black plum, cedar, earth, blackberry, smoke, spice, and herbs. I would describe this wine overall as intense. It had a lot of everything going on and definitely deserves your attention.

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Chilean Blends

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample to participate in a Wines of Chile Tasting

Have I mentioned lately how much fun the Wines of Chile Tastings are? If I haven’t, I should. The lovely PR people for the Wines of Chile gather a herd of cats [wine bloggers], send us all wine, a corkscrew, and something else fun from Chile and then let us video taste with the winemakers from Chile. It is just about the coolest thing I get to do as a wine blogger. I look forward to these tastings every time. This wine comes from a tasting I participated in back in late October. Again, I’m tardy, but better late than never? One of the wines was this 2006 Maquis Lien. It clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and retails for $19. The wine is a blend of 42% Syrah, 30% Carmenere, 12% Cabernet Franc, 9% Petite Verdot, and 7% Malbec.

On the nose I found plum, smoke, meat, spice, pepper, bubblegum, a green note, mint, and chocolate. The bubblegum is something I found on several of the wines in this tasting, all of which had Petite Verdot in common, making me wonder if the Petite Verdot lent that characteristic to the wine. In the mouth I got black cherry, back plum, lots and lots of tannins, pepper, blueberry, meat, chocolate, and earth. I found it to be darker on the palate than I had anticipated and the tannins made me think running this through a decanter would be a good bet.

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It’s a mystery

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Sonadora

I found a bottle of wine in my basement and I have absolutely no idea where it came from. None. The importer yielded no clues, it didn’t have paperwork taped to it like I do with the samples I get, nothing. So that leaves a couple options. It was a present from someone. My dad bought it. Or it’s a sample that came with no information (which I do get quite frequently, what’s up with that??) and the return address was a P.O. Box. The wine is the 2007 Odfjell Vineyards Armador Carmenere. If you sent this to me, fess up and I’ll let folks know where it arrived from. The wine clocks in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, has a real cork closure, and retails for about $10.

On the nose I got pepper, spice, peppers, cedar, blackberry, black cherry, and earth. In the mouth I got blackberry, anise, earth, black cherry, spice, and other dark fruits. This is a big, big wine, with aggressive tannins (that’s such a funny phrase, but really accurate, if you think of tannins sort of beating up your tongue).

Filed under: Chile, Red, Wine | 4 Comments »

More Red Blends from Chile

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Sonadora

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from the PR folks for Wines of Chile in order to participate in a tasting.

This post gets the same explanation as the previous Chilean Red Blends post. I simply did not get around to typing up my notes and publishing them in a timely manner, but still want you all to hear about these wines. Next up is the 2008 Estampa Gold Assemblage. Also a Carmenere heavy blend, this one is 57% Carmenere, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, and 8% Petite Verdot. It has a real cork closure, clocks in at 14% alcohol by volume, and retails for $22.

On the nose I got bubblegum, pepper, spice, red fruit notes, cardamom, thyme, cherry, and the rest of my spice rack thrown in for good measure. On the palate I found huge herbal notes, black cherry, and more herbs. I found the herbal quality to be a bit overwhelming and it also had huge tannins. Both of those characteristics had mellowed by the time I went back to it much later that evening, but it definitely took time.

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