Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon (1997)
Region: Chile
Cost: $Â 21
Dark coloring, more brown than red, with aromas of fresh berries, cassis, dark chocolate, and cigar box cedar. Â Flavors of blackberry fruit, cassis, plum with hints of chocolate and roasted coffee. Â Pair with chicken, veal, beef tenderloin, lamb, and stews.
Recommendations: Having read the description of this wine, I was intrigued, especially since it had been a while since I’d had the chance to enjoy a wine this old. Â I did get hints of fresh fruit on the nose, but I also got tobacco and smoke, which isn’t a bad thing, along with a bit of pepper, which I also got on the finish of the wine.
Paired with a meal of home made chili, the smokiness of the wine was actually a great compliment, pairing well with the slow cooked meal. Â The heartiness of the meal helped to mask some of the tobacco and smoke, while letting the fruit flavors shine through.
My only real complaint with this wine is that they used a real cork to seal it, and there was some sediment in the bottle. Â That being said, it wasn’t a real problem until my wife and I got to the very end of the bottle, and would have been easy to fix had we decanted the wine instead of just letting it open up in our glasses. Â If you’re looking for a more full-bodied Cabernet and don’t want something fruit forward, this is definitely what you’re looking for and is worth it for the price.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club for providing the wine.
