Anyone drinking Chilean Wine?

Matetic was mentioned twice in this thread. And it looks like its available locally. I have to say that Koyle Reserve Syrah was pretty good for the money. I like it better than the lighter style Northern Rhone VDP’s I have had in that price range.

Nicolas,
My experience with Chilean wines is very limited compared with yours. I had a nice visit when I was going to Easter Island. I took a day tour to Casa Marin, Emiliana and Casas del Bosque (awe inspiring restaurant and servicable wines). I had a chance to taste many more wines. The Casa Marin wines captured my heart especially the Sauvignon Blanc. The family that runs that Maria Luz and her brother are such fine people. The area is very interesting. I appreciate any suggestions you might make here. I like the wines from Chile. I don’t drink them often because I am a real lover of Burgundy. Always interested however in a excellent wine no matter the origin. Cheers.

Nicolas, as I mentioned before Von Siebenthal seems to be making excellent wines, by far my favorite is the Toknar. Also, I’ve been enjoying the Antiyal and Kuyen recently, however they do need some time in bottle to open up.

Nicolas, thanks for starting this thread. I read it on the train home from the airport yesterday and I thought, “no, I don’t but I should”. My last experience was years ago and it stained my teeth for a week and had a hangover that hung around almost as long as the stain. Years later I have no excuses for not searching out the better made ones. On that thought I went to my local favorite stop and noted he had a bottle of Clos Ouvert Loncomilla 2008 on sale for 20 CHF. I asked him about the style etc and he offered me the bottle! He said it had been a long time since he tasted it so all he wanted in return was my opinion.

And my opinion is, “why have I not checked these wines out earlier?!?”. Excellent wine. Outstanding considering the price at 20 CHF (more or less $20). There are some oaky things going on but the fruit and the mineral crunch are just awesome. I drank roughly half and corked the other half for this afternoon.

Thanks again for reminding me to look around more often.

I think it’s a 2010. Pretty sure it’s whatever the current release would be. This was a sample I received and I’m just letting it settle before I open it. Typically, from South America I buy mostly Malbecs from Argentina. Chilean wine is good, but like some have said, once the prices crept up, it was no longer an alternative.

I agree on the price thing, a lot of producers here have gone nuts with their pricig (eg, lapostolle which absolutely hate this days). Right now most of the ‘big’ producers are making more ‘Parker Style’ wine (pardon me for the expression)… what I mean is that they are very over oaked, extremely tanic, have a lot of intervention and in the end you can’t really see any terroir shining through them.

Having said that, there are some exceptions that are going in an interesting direction, and I hope you give them a try :slight_smile:

Great that you found something that you liked! :smiley:

You may find this funny, but those wines are not easy to find here at all… most of the production gets exported to the US these days :slight_smile:, let me know if they are good!


I agree that when the price starts to climb you’re much better off drinking some Burgundy/Rhone/Bordeaux, we have a long way to go here in Chile, but keep watching!

No one on this board will ever be upset if you use the expression “parker style wine”. In fact you will probably be thanked if you identify parker styled bottles by folks that might have otherwise spent their money on them.

I have done some reading on Clos Ouvert and Luyt this afternoon. It certainly sounds like there are some pretty exciting things happening in your corner of the world. If the bottle of Loncomilla is any indication of the quality of other well made wines I am certainly going to invest more in discovering.

Great to know about the ‘parker style’, the major Chilean wineries have been big adopters of the parker style, which has done a great amount of damage to the Chilean wine reputation among the connoisseurs.

You can find Luyt wines in the US, if you want to understand what’s going on with Chilean wines taking a new direction, I would advice you to try Luyt’s Carignan, Montsecano Pinot Noir & the Villalobos Carignan, they are more in the Natural side, but all of those are pretty interesting bottles!

Hello Nicolas, just discovered this thread. I went through my list and found a number of Chileans that I’ve had (at random, I’ve never really looked into them). Here a some that I enjoyed over the years–more than I realized!:

2011 Cono Sur Reserva Especial
Pinot Noir
Valle de Casablanca, Chile
7/13
Not bad. Well balanced, drank reasonably.

**Maquis Lien 2007
Colchagua Valley, Chile.
13.5%. 32% Syrah, 25% Carménère, 20% Cabernet Franc, 15% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec. Cheap.
2nd bottle 1/12:
B: A bit drying and bitter, 1st day. 2nd day: quite nice.
C: Nice ruby
N: Winey. Leather, black currants.
P: Slightly drying, the first day. Smooth, good balance, goes well with food. Interesting. 2nd day (left open on counter) much better. It really came together. A very interesting wine, a new and intriguing flavor combination. I like this!

*Montes Classic Series
Merlot 2008
Colchagua Valley, Chile
14%.
B likes
C: Dark.
N: Plums and leather.
P: Notes of dark plums, cherries. Very smooth and beautifully integrated. Drinks like a dream. Great length and evenness.

*Veranda Chardonnay 2008
Miraflores Single VIneyard
Estate Bottled
Bio BIo Valley Chile
14%. $16 online.
Thanksg. 2010
C: Pale straw. N: Light. P: Soft, round, excellent balance, nice intensity, good length. Drinks exceedingly well. Went very well with turkey etc.

*Escudo Rojo 2008
Valle Centrale
Baron Philippe de Rothschild
Maipo Chile
14.5%
Bdx blend. B likes. Dark red, cherry nose (?), drinks very well. Integrated tannins, sweet (maybe slightly too sweet) fruit, good finish.

*Aresti Estate Selection Pinot Noir 2008
Curicó Valley, Chile
arestichile.cl
$12 4/10
Good PN red-brown color, on the dark side. Not much nose. Good balance, integrated fruit, drinks well, reasonable length. Nice clear PN flavor. Great with pork chops! Very nice entry-level PN, very good QPR. Sometimes has a slightly sharp edge, but this disappears completely with tomato sauce. A great combination.

2008 Viña Peñalolén
Cabernet Sauvignon
Maipa Valley, Chile
2/10
A bit tight at first, but opened after a few minutes. Smooth, easy-going, drinkable, reasonable length.

Los Espinos Sauvignon Blanc
Chile
9/09
Not bad (IIRC)

Veranda Pinot Noir 2007
Chile
9/09
Had been opened, but still quite nice.

*2007 Terra Andina Sauvignon Blanc
Chile, Central Valley
$10
7/08
Nice, solid, drinkable, good intensity and finish. Quite a bargain.

Only one so far…

Posted from CellarTracker

A recent (November 2013) trip to Chile allowed me to visit Kingston Family (good not great, but some promising Syrah), Casa del Bosque (fair to middling - way too much oak on everything, including the Riesling) and Emiliana (best of the three - good pricing, very solid wines, biodynamic).

Don Melchor, Clos Apalta, and Almaviva are all really good… but for me they’re a bit overpriced now as they are the “Chilean darlings”…

if you go there tho, visit the Clos Apalta property. gorgeous views…

We BLEW through a bunch of Mele Carignan 2010 from Maule recently, people could not get enough of it.

We drank an Errazuriz Max Reserva Carmenere 2010 recently that I liked quite a bit…good QPR.

I enjoy the Un-Parkerized Chilean reds, and find that a number of them offer good value. In fact this thread has encouraged me to explore more of them.