During the national holidays, the wine which is an intrinsic accompaniment to the celebration is consumed Wine Cabernet Sauvignon, Gracia de Chile. Rapel Valley.abundantly by Chileans, particularly red wine. For this reason, large supermarkets tend to put up their prices and put out products which are not always the best quality. It’s easy to be taken in when paying more in a supermarket, thinking that we are buying a good wine. This is often not the fault of the vineyards, since the wines have a hard time on the journey, waiting in inappropriate warehouses, travelling again and then waiting on the shelves for the consumer, suffering the glare of the lights and the poor music, interrupted by the ads telling you “you need this or that”; all in all, it is easy to buy something which later you regret. In conclusion, if you buy wine in a supermarket, buy a cheap one and try to understand why it has the price it has…..you’ve been warned.

I was invited to a barbecue on the 18th September in the central coastal region. I had to take something with me and on the way I bought this Cabernet Sauvignon Vintage Wine from Vina Gracia, Chile 2006 from a supermarket. I paid about $3.200 [Chilean pesos]. The price is understandable, since it should be kept for several more years in order to be appreciated fully. When a vintage wine is still young, the best thing to do is to uncork it and leave it open for it to “air”; in this way, the wild tannins which still don’t know which way to go, can be dispersed. Leaving it open for a couple of hours, or a day if possible, means that you get an excellent fruity wine, at an excellent price. When I got into the car, I uncorked the bottle, I swilled it round, and I put the cork in again before I set off. I didn’t taste a drop as you can imagine.

The barbecue was in the undervalued town of Quisco, where all the houses and chalets seem to be for sale or for rent. Is such a stampede really justified? Surely not, when you can still have a good time there for little money, without being at risk of having your throat cut; on the contrary, having little need for “security guards”, there simply aren’t any. The few policeman in the resort spend their time directing the traffic in the main crossroads, and they don’t seem very stressed.

Back at the house, I uncorked the wine again so that it could continue “airing”. We had to buy the meat, Cabernet Sauvignon wine and “Chilean asado”and in the centre of Quisco there are many options with at east 3 large butcher’s shops. On a corner of the high street where there used to be the shop “El Giglio” (it sold everything), there is now a very popular butcher’s shop; in the middle of the counter, dozens of piled up pig rib cages already seasoned with chile and oregano drew attention due to their deep red colour. With a slight smile, I asked the lady behind the counter if unseasoned rib cages could be bought, which should therefore be cheaper. She told me that they did sell them, but that they were at the same price, since the seasoning was complimentary for the customers. What more could you ask for; why such bad press for Quisco?

Back at the house, it was lunchtime and in a few minutes a small barbecue was set up, with the heated coals ready to punish the ribs. In 15 minutes we were eating and drinking. Everyone knows what is said about ‘matching’, but it is true that what some preach as “red wine and fish” can be right: sometimes strange combinations have more success than the classic recommendations. However, for a barbecue little innovation needs to be made and the truth is that the combination could not have turned out better: the full bodied, fruity wine now without the asperity of the tanins, refreshed and took away the heat of the chile and therefore the second mouthful of meat tasted like the first again. Finally, the digestion could not be more pleasurable, there were no somersaults after eating so much rib cage, although a mint tea is always appreciated in these cases.

With little time, in Quisco, and with little money, we had a great time. Ah! And “security”, 10 out of 10: not one security guard dressed as Rambo for kilometres and kilometres around.