In discussions about potential future holidays Chile often is suggested. I hope one day that we do in fact follow up on this suggestion, not just because I appreciated the wines made there but also because like its neighbour on the other side of the Andes it has an interesting geography stretching from the world's driest desert, the Atacama, in the North right down to Tierra del Fuego, which is as close to Antarctica it is possible travel without actually going there.
This week our wine comes from San Antonio, in Valparaiso, about halfway down:
Halfway down Chile is a cool climate wine region, in general terms, where many of the valleys run down from the Andes towards the coastal plain. The Andes provides irrigation as the snow melts from the mountains into the Maipo river, and the valley floors are made of granitic soil with good drainage.
The Humboldt current that runs up the coast from the south brings a cooling influence, often with sea fogs in the mornings that moderate the increasingly hot afternoon temperatures and together these provide an environment which gives the grapes plenty of time to mature slowly and to develop excellent flavours.
Pinot Noir can be tricky to grow but it is well-suited to the region and, in this case, it has produced a delicate, silky wine with gentle tannin and a blend of strawberry and cherry fruits and some equally gentle spices.
As I may have mentioned before, I am a fan of Pinot Noir and enjoyed this one very much. It does not pretend to be upscale and is not as rich as some examples but pound for pound I think it punches above its weight.
In terms of weight, it is labelled as having 13.5% abv although this is not immediately apparent when I tasted (drank) it.
If my opinion isn't enough for you , and there is no reason why it should be, I offered a glass of it to The One who enjoyed it and, more than that, said so. I find this encouraging as so often I have to explore alone. That's not a complaint, it's just that there is a certain amount of guilt associated with solo drinking. Ok, I'm over it.
Buy again? Yes.
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