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About 1 in 5 bottles of wine sold in Ireland is from Chile so you’d be
forgiven we think we know all about their wines. You’d be wrong. We hardly
scratch the surface. Martin tastes alternative Chilean wines
on the Moncreiff show after 3.15pm on News Talk 106-108FM on June 8th
2007.
Although we buy an awful lot of Chilean wine in
Ireland we consume in a very narrow range of styles and prices. The vast
majority cost between €7-10 and the whites tend to be sauvignon blanc or
chardonnay and the reds are usually merlot or cabernet. The top sellers are
Santa Rita, Carmen and Cono Sur. Now there’s nothing wrong we any of these
wines. They have only become popular because they deliver what we want in terms
of flavour and price.
However for many wine lovers, and me, they beg
the question: “Is that it? Can they do anything else? The answer is of course
yes and Chile is expanding its range of varieties, grape growing regions even
and price points. So, come on down viognier, Semillon and gewürztraminer and
more for the whites and for the reds say hello to pinot noir, shiraz or syrah,
petit syrah, sangiovese, malbec, tempranillo and of course local hero carmenère.
Few people bother to look at the small print to
see which bit of Chile their wine is from, but its time you started. It’s the
newer, cooler districts that are creating the excitement. Places like Casablanca
Valley and Leyda in San Antonio Valley make whites with real zing and cool
climate loving reds like pinot noir with real elegance in place of the usual
jammy mess and surprisingly subtle syrah.
At opposite ends of the country the regions of Bio Bio in the South and Elqui
and Limari in the north are also making waves. And then there are the prices.
While there are still plenty of cheap and cheerful numbers on the price
stickers, an increasing number are north of €20. And why not if they are good?
Superquinn have a Chilean sale on at the moment
that showcases some of these newer styles combined with a supporting cast of the
usual suspects. Over all the standards are pretty good of those that I have
tried and some are excellent, while the prices are hard to resist. First up, and
one of the stars of the line up for me, we’ll be tasting Agustinos
Pinot Noir 2006 from Bio Bio Valley (so good they named it twice)
which is a new brand to me. At the regular price of €9.99 it’s a bargain,
but at the sale price of €7.49,
it’s a steal. It avoids the jamminess so often found in cheap new world pinot
and shows all the hallmark cherry and raspberry fruit of the variety.
Second wine to be tasted is EQ
Syrah 2005 from San Antonio Valley at €23.99, which is reduced from
€31.99. Expensive? Maybe at first sight, but this wine has been voted the best
red in Chile and most critics and consumers have been vowed by it. Available
form larger branches of Superquinn. Last wine to be tasted is Cono
Sur Limited Release Gewürztraminer 2005, from Bio Bio and just
€7.99 at Redmonds of Ranelagh. This is a surprisingly smart version for the
money of the love it or leave it exotically scented grape. I know which camp
I’m in.
It’s time to look at Chile with fresh eyes.
Learn more about the fast evolving Chilean wine scene at www.winesofchile.org
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