June 2012 - Letchworth Festival Wine Tasting - Chilean Wines

There was no meeting in June. Instead, we supported the Letchworth Festival Wine Tasting that took place at the Letchworth Golf Club on Friday 22 June...

Wine Appreciation Group 3 presented Wines of Chile at the Festival. The tasting comprising of the following four wines.

Reds:

  • MontGras Reserva Carmenere Colchagua Valley (Waitrose £8.99); Porta Estate 14% - Introduced from France in the1880's, the Carmenere grape has developed a unique personality in Chile which is today the only significant source of this uncommon variety. The MonGras vineyard is located in the heart of Chilean wine country with a climate that is typically Mediterranean favouring the production of rich concentrated red wines. This deep purple Carmenere's powerful spicy aromas mingle with mint and wild herbs, whilst on the palate it is soft with round tannins combining subtle vanilla and toasty flavours.
  • Vinyard Reserva Cabinbet Sauvingnon Aconcagua 2010 (Costco £5.60) 13.5% - Typical of many young cabenets, the colour is an intense ruby with bright red edges on the tip. The aromas consist of plum, dark berry fruit and some tobacco, whist flavours are complex beggining with plum, dark berries, cassis, followed by some sweet cherries. The finish is nice and long with some oak-tinged cherry left on the palate before dissipating. The uniquely different taste has an inital earthiness which combines with a big fruit concentration and a good structure, good volumes and round tannins. 

Whites:

  • Tablia Reserva Especial Sauvignon Blanc Limari Valley 2010 (Majestic £12.49) 13.5% - This wine used grapes grown in the Caliza Vineyard, the costal vinyard of the Limari valley in the North of Chile.This exceptional location for Sauvignon Blac is on a very chalky soil, with a strong maritine influence. This unique combination of climate and soil conditions provides an intense and complex nose, with clear minerality along with ctric notes and herbal hints. On the palateit has an impressive volume with a perfect acidity which gives great freshness, quality and balance. 
  • Dona Dominga Founders' Vinyard Gran Reserva Chardonnay 2010 (Tesco £7.99) 14% - Winery of the year 2010, Chile's most awarded winery of the 21st Century. This exquisite Chardonnay has notes of fresh mangoes, peaches, apricots and hazelnuts. An elegant, complex and balanced wine that has been made with grapes drawn from the Angostura Estate, on the west of the central section of a quite magical valley in Chile called Colchagua. The grapes benefit from the perfect climatic condions in a region often referred to as a winemaker's Garden of Eden which allows for the gentle ripening of these Chardonnay grapes and the resulting pure, fresh fruit taste.