Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon, Concha y Toro vineyard 2005.

November 23, 2007 at 2:25 am · Filed under Colchagua Valley, Curico Valley, Maipo Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon wine Chile

2005 Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon, ChileIt’s past time that I update a few TJ’s faves. This blog has been around for about a year now, and naturally many of the wines reviewed have been replaced with new vintages on the shelves at your local Trader Joes.

I know that for some readers of this blog, vintage seems like a trivial concern. How much different can the 2004 and the 2005 of a certain wine be? When it comes to large-tank producers, that’s a good point. Winemakers strive for consistency year-to-year, and may even blend some wine between vintages to achieve it. You can make a case that non-vintage is the way to go at some price points, in order to achieve uniform quantity. OTH, weather and other factors can cause huge differences between vintages - and sometimes even between tanks. There was a story not too long ago in the L.A. Times ( I think) about two-buck-chuck aficionados being so attuned to the variable quality of each tankfull of the swill, that they would buy one bottle, taste it in the parking lot, and come back for more if it passed muster. And think about it — it’s an amazing technical achievement to make the entire run of a 50,000 case wine, coming as it does from thousands of different barrels - all taste the same. It’s not like there is one big tank you can use to blend wine all that stuff.

BTW -sometimes, I really wonder. Not that long ago, I heard one winemaker jokingly tell another how simple it would be to swap the 2000 labels on several barrels of Napa Valley Cabernet with 2001 labels. Now this was clearly a joke, but the best jokes start with a grain of truth, don’t they?

The 2005 Casillero Cabernet is decent, if unexciting. The nose features redwood chips, cassis, & blackberry pie. The wine is simple and juicy in the mouth but a touch astringent, leading to a clean, dry finish.

I don’t have a bottle of 2004 laying around to compare it with, but my feeling is that the 04 was a little brighter and more polished than the 05. Still, this is a solid value from a reliable producer.

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Errazuriz Cortton, Sauvignon Blanc 2006. Errazuriz Vineyard, Curico Valley.

April 26, 2007 at 1:14 am · Filed under Curico Valley, Sauvignon Blanc wine Chile

Errazuriz Vineyard Presentation:
Errazuriz Cortton, Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Wine †Faithful to its philosophy to produce wines of the highest quality, for this Sauvignon Blanc, the Errazuriz Vineyard has rigorously selected grapes coming from its vineyards in the Curico Valley, a traditional wine growing region of Chile where the abundant sun and cold nights produce wines with intense and fresh bouquets with elegant tropical and citric characteristics. This is a lively, fresh wine with a pale green colour and intense flavour. Its delicate floral aroma stands out, mixed with tropical and citric notes which evoke pineapple and lemon. It is ideal as an aperitif or to accompany prawns or seafood.

SurVino:

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