Wine & Spirits - October 2021 - 88

Chile's South
PINOT NOIR
95 | Concha y Toro
$22
2019 Bío Bío Marques de Casa Concha
Limited Edition Pinot Noir (BEST BUY) ^ This
grows at the Quitralmán Vineyard, planted
in 2007 on red clay soils over well-drained
rock. Marcelo Papa makes the wine in Puente
Alto, giving it a seven-day cold soak and fermenting
some lots with their stems. He ages
the wine in French oak barrels (20 percent
new), investing its crunchy strawberry fruit
with luxurious smokiness. Resonant rose and
rosemary scents last, the wine completely
seamless. Whitney Asher of Brava in Lenox,
Mass., shared the panel's enthusiasm when
he said, " I'd put this up against the Premier
Cru Givry we're pouring right now. " § Fetzer
Vineyards, Hopland, California
90 | Casa Silva
$35
2018 Patagonia Lago Ranco Viñedo de
Futrono Pinot Noir ^ The cold-climate pinot
noir has the transparent color of a rosé. It's
light and airy, a simple note of strawberry
and lemon flavor, fresh and chillable. § Vine
Connections, Sausalito, CA
90 | Morandé
$25
2020 Malleco Valley Limited Edition
Black Pinot Noir ^ This wine's juicy, fresh
cherry flavors are simple and airy, a gentle
wine with earthy coolness that lasts. The
tannins feel present, but not aggressive, balanced
and set to take on flank steak. § Int'l
Wine & Spirits Transport, Miami, FL
RED bLENDS
coming. Wrapped in a brown paper bag, this
wine lasted on my counter for a week, seemingly
impervious to oxidation, using the time
to gain layers of complexity and mystery. §
Freedom Beverage, Greensboro, NC
93 | Morandé
$15
2019 Maule Valley Terroir Wines CinsaultPaís
(BEST BUY) ^ Brisk and summery, this cinsault-país
blend has the feel of the cool sun
in Chile's south. Its fragrant strawberry and
darker, brambly berry-fruit tones have intensity
without weight. Long on freshness and
lasting savor, this is remarkably complex for
a $13 wine. Buy it by the case. § Int'l Wine &
Spirits Transport, Miami, FL
93 | P.S. Garcia
$20
2018 Itata Bravado Red Blend^ A blend from
two vineyards, the vines averaging 120 years
old, this is three-quarters syrah and carignan,
with the rest made up of grenache, petit verdot
and mourvedre. Aged for 18 months in
neutral French oak, this wine's tannins hold
a cornucopia of spice, from cumin and coriander
to the bitter crush of flower petals. The
flavors evolve in the glass toward ruby grapefruit
and roasted tomato, holding the wine
fresh through all the spice. It's built for food,
whether char siu or something with Moroccan
spice, like a goat tagine. § Vine Connections,
Sausalito, CA
93 | Volcanes
$35
2019 Maule Valley Parinacota ^ This blend
from Loncomilla focuses on syrah with oldvine
carignan making up 30 percent, delivering
a lot of volume without a lot of weight.
Its red plum flavors have a sleek velvet nap,
and what Emerson Stevens of Café Europa
described as " white-wine minerality. " Grown
on soils derived from mineral-rich igneous
rock, this is earthy, smoky, plummy and delicious,
a wine to savor with grilled baby lamb. §
Vias Imports, NY
91 | Undurraga
with the lean structure of país. This wine's
15 percent of cinsault adds some lushness to
the texture, taking país in a silky direction.
There's crushed-green-peppercorn spice and
succulent plum skin tannins, turning the
red fruit a little tarry as it lasts into the finish.
Assertively Chilean. § Freedom Beverage,
Greensboro, NC
$30
2020 Cauquenes Agreste Cariñena-Garnacha
^ Carignan provides a warm blanket
of fruit, while grenache seems to elevate the
floral perfume of this wine. It's bright and
quaffable with some bitter-almond depths
to its tannins that place it with a mixed grill. §
Freedom Beverage, Greensboro, NC
90 | Gillmore
$20
95 | Undurraga
$45
2019 Maule Valley Red Field Blend ^ Presented
as a traditional field blend, this wine
includes malbec, cabernet sauvignon, carignan,
cinsault and país. And yet, with all
those varieties to choose from, it actually
tasted more like a spicy nebbiolo. The tannins
are black and tarry, a contrast to the
sweet strawberry-scented fruit, coming
together in a wine that feels open and wel88
2018
Maule Valley Mariposa Red Blend ^
Cool and rooty, this red-fruited wine is a
50-50 blend of syrah and merlot dry-farmed
at the Gillmores' estate. The blend has a
woodland-mushroom scent, notes of beets
and tomato leaf, cool, floral and spicy. It's an
elegant wine for a peppery, thick-cut T-bone
steak, grilled with lemon and olive oil. § Global
Vineyard Importers, Berkeley, CA l
92 | Undurraga
WINE & SPIR IT S Oc TO b ER 2021
$30
2020 Cauquenes T.H. Rarities País-Cinsault^
Cinsault came to Chile's Secano Interior
in the 1930s, as a richer red to blend
https://www.undurraga.cl/vinos-y-espumantes https://www.wine.com/product/gillmore-mariposa-red-blend-2018/685680 https://www.undurraga.cl/vinos-y-espumantes https://www.undurraga.cl/vinos-y-espumantes
Wine & Spirits - October 2021

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