Taste the Difference Chilean Pinot Noir 2011 £7.99
100% Pinot Noir. The grapes for this wine are grown in vertically trellised vineyards on red clay and granite soil in Chile’s Casablanca Valley. They were hand-picked in mid April and had 3 days of skin contact at low temperatures before fermentation in stainless steel tanks at 12°C for 12 days, using selected yeasts. After malolactic fermentation, the wine spends 10 months maturing in French oak barrels. This wine is not fined, but is filtered and cold stabilised prior to bottling. Residual sugar: 3.5g/l. Winemaker: Matias Rivera at Viña Santa Helena. New vintage, available now, 481 stores, exclusive, screw cap 14.5%

What the heck's happened to this wine? No varietal character at all. A mix up at the labelling stage? Not good, if you like pinot.



Taste the Difference Chilean Merlot 2011 £6.99
85% Merlot and 15% Carmenère. The vineyards are planted on sandy-loam soils. The grapes were hand-picked at the end of April and early May. Alcoholic fermentation takes place at 26–30°C in stainless steel tanks. 35% of the wine is then aged in 1–3yr old French (20%) and American (15%) oak barrels for 5 to 8 months depending on the development of individual lots.
Residual sugar: 2.24g/l. Winemaker: Wladimir Medel at the Errazuriz Winery.
New vintage, available now, 481 stores, screw cap 13.5%

Minty, stalky and inviting nose. Ditto taste. Pretty great price for this.



35° South Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 £5.99
100% Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards in Molina, San Pedro and San Miguel. The grapes are harvested at 23-25° brix. Harvest usually takes place at the beginning of April with a vineyard yield of 12 to 15 tonnes per hectare. When the grapes reach the cellar they are cold macerated (10-12°C) for 24hrs and then fermented at controlled temperatures below 28°C. Pumping over takes place 3-4 times per day in order to obtain good colour and flavour. Before the alcoholic fermentation is finished, the wine is separated in order to finish the fermentation without any skins. Residual sugar: 5g/l. Winemaker: Miguel Rencoret.
New vintage, available now, 396 stores, exclusive, screw cap 13.5%
Cono Sur Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 £7.99
85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Syrah, 4% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Aspiran Bouchet grown in the alluvial and gravelly soils of the El Recurso estate in the Maipo Valley. The grapes were hand-harvested in May. The wine undergoes fermentation and malolactic fermentation in stainless steel before being transferred to new French oak barrels (80%) and 20% to tanks for 10 months ageing. Residual sugar: 3.2g/l. Winemaker: Adolfo Hurtado.
New, available now, 272 stores, cork 14.0%

There is the merest whiff of blackcurrant leaf on this.  The taste is about right for the money, but £5.99 is last year’s £4.49 and this wine tastes it.

Viñalba Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec Merlot 2010 £9.99
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Malbec, 20% Merlot. The vines are grown in the foothills of mountain ranges in Mendoza, more than 950m above sea level. The grapes were harvested March to April by hand into small trays of 20kg to prevent damage. The vines are 15yrs old on average with yields of 60hl/ha, grown on clay loam. Cold maceration takes place for 5 days followed by fermentation in temperature-controlled tanks at 26-28°C with 4 pump-overs per day and a period of 20 days of maceration. 60% of the wine is aged in French oak for 12 months. The wine is fined with egg white and undergoes membrane filtration. Residual sugar: 2.5g/l.
Winemaker: Hervé Joyaux Fabre of Domaine Vistalba.
Available now, 272 stores, exclusive, cork 14.5%

Nice aroma. Quite a chocolate/mocha taste. Rich and powerful. I like it.

Cono Sur Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 £7.99
85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Syrah, 4% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Aspiran Bouchet grown in the alluvial and gravelly soils of the El Recurso estate in the Maipo Valley. The grapes were hand-harvested in May. The wine undergoes fermentation and malolactic fermentation in stainless steel before being transferred to new French oak barrels (80%) and 20% to tanks for 10 months ageing. Residual sugar: 3.2g/l. Winemaker: Adolfo Hurtado.
New, available now, 272 stores, cork 14.0%

Appealingly cabernet on the nose. Blackcurrant and garden mint, but also asian spices. Very inviting. Spicy and interesting. Very good.



Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 £11.99
90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Carmenère and 1% Petit Verdot. Grapes come from the stony soils of the Puente Alto vineyard in the Maipo Valley. The grapes were hand-picked between 20th April and 8th May. The wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks for 8-10 days after which the wine spends 18 months in French oak (40% new) with medium toast and is racked every 3 months. Residual sugar: 2.74g/l. Winemaker: Marcelo Papa.
New vintage, available now, 136 stores, cork 14.5%

This has a strange, mint humbug smell.  In the mouth, it’s good and fruity, with well-judged oak, but also the minty finish.  Maybe there’s eucalyptus growing in the vineyard?

_________________
mel