It's time to branch out from California for your Cabernet.
100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo Valley, Chile. The wine spends 12 months in French oak, 30% new barrels.
Sample submitted for review. This wine has an SRP of $20. Imported by Shaw-Ross International Importers.
From the bottle:
Each of the wines from the 1865 line comes from its own selected vineyard planted with a specific variety. Each "single vineyard" is carefully managed in accordance with the conditions of its grape variety, soil and climate - or terroir - to produce wines with consistently unique personalities and quality.
1865 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from our Alto Maipo Valley vineyard planted 40 years ago with vines propagated by massal selection. The Mediterranean climate features average summer high temperatures that hover around 30C (86F), and the vineyard's clay-loam soils from an alluvial terrace include a presence of cobblestones 50cm (20in) below the surface - conditions that give rise to this tremendously elegant wine with red fruits on the nose and palate.
14.5% Alcohol
Cabernet Sauvignon is still king of the red varieties, but if you are tiring of California (and California prices), Chile is a region to be sure to check out. Today we've got a great example of the value to be found here.
The 2013 Vina San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon opens with pleasing aromas of ripe red fruit, mint and red licorice plus a bit of cedar, green pepper and smoky plums. The wine tastes smooth with nice streaks of smoky spice, lots of licorice and some earthy notes too. The fruit is a bit darker in the mouth than the nose suggests and the touch of green pepper from the nose also carries over when tasting. Plenty of oak influences lead into the dry, medium-long finish. The Vina San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon might still be a bit young at this point but it drinks quite well now and shows lots of potential for the next few years.
