2007 Santa Carolina Carménère Reserva de Familia

Type: Red
Producer: Santa Carolina
Variety: Carménère
Designation: Reserva de Familia
Country: Chile
Region: Central Valley
SubRegion: Rapel Valley
Appellation: Rapel Valley
Disclosure- This was received as a free bottle sample.



The Big Wooden Guy is a bit hesitant. it has some promise, and it has a great QPR, but ultimately it's just not that terrific. "Pretty good, but a great value" is accurate, but, at least to me, underwhelming.

Night One

Imagine melting a stick of butter over a bowl full of dark fruit, then sprinkling it all with black pepper, and you will know the nose of this wine. The fruit in the bowl is dark and rich, mulberry and elderberry, with a tiny tell-tale hint of green pepper in the background that announces this wine is from Chile.

On the palate, the same dark fruit and butter appear on the attack, with obvious high alcohol, but high enough acidity to give balance. The "Chile!" green pepper appears on the mid-palate, along with some vanilla, but not an overpowering amount indicative of too much wood. This is a big, fruity wine. Tannins are sweet and silky, and it has a very good mouth-feel.

Night Two

The nose is similar to Night One, with the same butter over dark fruit, but now the green pepper is far more pronounced. The fruit on the palate is bit more tart than on Night One, more blackberry than mulberry, with a little bit of elderberry still there, along with black pepper. There is not as much green pepper as on the nose. Some vanilla, and now brown sugar, appear on the mid-palate. The finish falls off rather quickly.

This is a good QPR wine, but not really a great wine. It is also a pop-n-pour, not something to cellar for a long time or decant over several hours. With additional time the green pepper becomes more pronounced and the wood treatment more obvious and more cloying.






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2006 Viña Ventisquero Cabernet Sauvignon Root:1

Type: Red
Producer: Viña Ventisquero
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Designation: Root:1 [The Original Ungrafted]
Country: Chile
Region: Central Valley
SubRegion: Rapel Valley
Appellation: Colchagua Valley





Night One

The nose opens with blackcurants and blackberries, but has several underlying aromas, and they are not all pleasant. On the up-side, there is some birch root and some cardamom. On the down-side, though, there is a slight smell of old bell peppers sauteed too long in rancid butter.

There is no mistaking this for anything but an under-$20 South American cabernet. If you don't know what I mean by that, find a green pepper, cut the top off and scrape out the insides, bake it in a hot overn for five minutes, let cool. While it's cooling, go to the grocery store and find a California Cab, not Napa, not Sonoma, "CALIFORNIA." Bring it home and pour it into the cooked green pepper. Drink.

Or don't.

Blackberries and blackcurrants (in green pepper) are on the attack. Vanilla and sour plums (in green pepper) are on the mid-palate. Tannins are dusty, the finish cloying.

Can you tell I'm not loving this?

Night Two

The nose opens far more favorably on Night Two. It starts with black fruit- blackcurrants and blackberries, plus some tobacco leaf and, at the end of a deep whiff, some menthol.

Black fruit starts the attack, but with a background of green pepper. On the mid-palate there is some mocha, followed by a bit of vanilla and brown sugar. The finish falls off fairly quickly.





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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

2004 Viña Santa Rita Cabernet Sauvignon Medalla Real Reserva Especial Single Estate

Type: Red
Producer: Viña Santa Rita
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Designation: Medalla Real Reserva Especial Single Estate
Country: Chile
Region: Central Valley
SubRegion: Maipo Valley
Price: $15.99



RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!

Me: "Oh, this is terrible. Do you want to try it?"

Wife: "Sure. ... OH DAMN! WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME?!?"

Me: "I told you it was terrible."

Wife: "You didn't say how terrible. Somebody had a bad day at work and pissed in the vat. That's what this tastes like."

Me: "But I warned you it was terrible. You wanted to try it."

Wife: "No, you just said 'terrible.' You didn't say 'this is really really awful, and you don't want to taste it.' You just said 'terrible,' and with you that can mean a little too sweet, not this vile brew."

Me: "But honey, sweetheart, I did say it was terrible."

Wife: "You'll pay for this, you bastard. Maybe not tonight, or even tomorrow, but you'll pay. I promise."

Me: "But sweetheart, I did say ... Oh, never mind. Sorry honey."

Wife: "You will be."

The Litle Wooden Guy didn't like it either.

2005 Viña Santa Rita Carménère 120

Type- Red
Producer- Viña Santa Rita
Variety- Carménère
Designation- 120
Country- Chile
Region- Central Valley
Appellation- Rapel Valley
Price- $5.99



If the Little Wooden Guy is running away you should too.

It's Wine Blogging Wednesday again, and WBW#52 comes from Cheap Wine Ratings, and the subject is Value Reds from Chile. Is this a "value red"? Well, it's $5.99, but it also isn't worth $5.99, or $4.99, or $3.99, or even $0.99. Value? Perhaps not.

Night One

The nose has some chocolate, some Slim Jim, loads of green- tomato leaves and green bell pepper. Smoked meat, blackberries and green flavors of arugula and tobacco leaves. Not much of a mid-palate. Finish is short.

After an hour or two more fruit is evident on the nose, mostly blueberry and some blackberry.

Night Two

The nose has green peppers, creosote and cherries. The palate, well, let's just say "not good."

Bokisch Vineyards Graciano 2005

Type: Red
Producer: Bokisch Vineyards
Variety: Graciano
Country USA
Region California
SubRegion Central Valley
Appellation Lodi
Alc. 14.5%
$25.99 from WineQ



The Little Wooden Guy appreciates wines made to drink fresh, rather than cellar.

Night One

A rich earthy smell first out of the bottle changes slowly to more fruit and spice after an hour or so in the glass. Red cherries and wild strawberries, asian spices and a touch of vanilla all overlay faint earth and mild mushrooms.

Curiously, red fruit on the nose turns to darker fruit on the palate, blackberries and blackcurrants along with unsweetened cranberries. The darker fruit fades on the mid-palate as a bit of underlying earth joins the tart, even slightly bitter, cranberries. It all leads to a mid-length richly tannic finish.

Very nice on Night One. Will it get better, or fall off, tomorrow?

Night Two

Fruits are darker and softer on Night Two. The cherries have gone from bright Bing cherries to riper black cherries. The tart strawberries are gone, replaced by sweet blueberries and mulberries. The spice is mostly gone, too. The vanilla still lingers.

Most of the balance is gone, leaving a vanilla-loaded wooden fruit bomb, adding cloying brown sugar in the mid-palate and an overall sense of over-worked sweetness.

This was a very nice bottle of wine on Night One, and a big disappointment on Night Two. Does that mean it's bad? No, not at all. It means it is a good bottle of wine made to drink fresh, not to decant for hours or cellar for years.