By Rick Riozza
As your friendly neighborhood wine steward/sommelier/fine wine quaffer, I meet a lot of wine enthusiasts. Fortunately, my stint as a wine steward over at the Palm Springs Ralphs Market, I get to meet and greet a bunch of tourists from Europe where I have the opportunity to practice my French & Italian.
Lately though, we’re getting a lot of South Americans visiting, so we get to practice proper Spanish as well. (Yes—we also have the pleasure of meeting Brazilians; unfortunately I don’t speak Portuguese, but I did study bossa nova guitar and I know the Portuguese lyrics that accompany the tunes—but no one wants to hear me sing in the wine aisle. Talk about burying the lead!
Anyway—I’ve come to know a Chilean gentlemen customer residing here who has just come back from visiting his homeland for his 65th high school reunion. He had nothing to report but simply a having a wonderful Christmastime with old friends and viewing vistas of flying saucer shaped clouds over the Andes.
When he’s shopped for wine here at Ralphs, he always inquires if we have any new Chilean wines in stock. On his recent return, I was overboard with news of our new Chilean Cab in stock.
But of course, I had to be a bit dramatic before simply informing him the wine we now are selling. “As far as world class wine goes,” I posed, “where do you think Chilean wine stands?”
He of course proudly pronounced. “There is some very good wine produced there.”
“You think!?”, I playfully retorted. I’m sure I dragged the conversation on, but I soon guided him to our premium wine cabinet near the front of the store where over 150 top quality and world class wines are on display. And then I had to give him the good news, “Oh by the way—did you hear that the 2021Viña Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto Vineyard was declared the ‘2024 Wine of the Year’ by Wine Spectator magazine? That’s a big deal in the world of wine!—for wine folk, it becomes history”
And voila! I pointed to the bottle that I had the properly exhibited right in the middle of the wine cabinet. “It sells here for $150, and since there was only 5,000 cases imported to the United States, it will soon, perhaps, become a collector/investment piece. Great for the Chilean wine business.”
He was as happy as punch! We both hugged and agreed to savor the moment. Forget about an investment for the ages; we decided now’s the time to start Christmas a little early and we purchased the Don Melchor Cab and met at a local pub to taste the wine with some tapas.
Circling back to what it means to be awarded the Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year, the publication, after blind-tasting nearly 10,500 wines during this past year, they go on to winnow the selection down to the “top”100 wines, where those are evaluated for quality based on “score”, value based on price, availability based on the cases made or imported into the U.S., and most importantly, the energy and story behind the wine—what they call the “X-factor”.
One would think that being part of that selection team is the best gig in the world; but that’s a lot of wine to get through, and although we love the idea, it’s good WS is handling it. The magazine talked about the fact that the 2021 California Cabernet Sauvignon was a major “protagonist” with all of their stellar wines in the competition. It definitely speaks volumes by the fact that a Chilean Cab ended up on the top.
Chilean wines have always been decent table wine—especially at such reasonable prices. For those of you who have not heard of Viña Don Melchor, do realize that its parent company is Concha y Toro: that name you’ve probably seen on the wine aisle with their Cab and Malbec. And they are known for very good high-volume and low-priced wine. The Viña Don Melchor is now a stand-alone brand.
I think true Cabernet Sauvignon fans will begin take serious notice of the Cabs coming out of Chile. Right now, Ralphs offers a Chilean Cab, the 2022 Icon, priced at around $15, that I find delicious: tastes like a California Cab but has the medium body of a Bordeaux.
So we enjoyed the Wine of the Year Chilean Cab immensely. Here’s a synopsis of our findings: It’s dark garnet in the glass. The nose starts off quietly (note: we did aerate with a device; ideally, we would have decanted it for an hour or so.), but we did get blackcurrant with hints of fall leaves and black tea; with a little time in the glass, woody aromas and gentle touches of plum and red bell pepper emerged. Now an aroma such as that, tells you wonderful things are to come.
And the flavors that came included: blackberry, cassis, graphite, iron, chocolate, cigar box, dried rosemary, white pepper, raspberry and plum. The wine is rich, elegant and intense—like a fabulous Bordeaux, with juiciness and round tannins; full-bodied with an acidity to keep things fresh, and a long intense finish that will match any holiday meal on the table. The blend is 93% Cab Sauv, 4% Cab Franc, and 3% Merlot.
Merry Christmas Baby!—Cheers
