Another interesting article in the Big Paper

snipped-for-privacy@hunt.com (Hunt) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com:

let us see, I brought a couple b ottl4es home, passable but not exciting, Casa Mayor Cab S. from Colchagua Valley, Chile

Sorry, my dentist won't let me gnaw for Chilean wine. Now, before I get lambasted for "dissing" Chilean wine, I have to say that I finally had a bottle of Chilean Cab, that was worth the drink. The sommelier at Le Boudin Blanc in Shepard's Market insisted that I taste it, after we had had a Bdx discussion. I have to say that it was very nice - a first for me. Unfortunately, I'd already done my share of damage on a btl of Chassagna and a St. Emilion, so NOW, I cannot recall the producer - bummer. I should have written the name down, but just knew that I'd recall this first. I've searched the Internet for all Chilean Cab producers, and cannot find anything that sounds right. It had a Bdx-style label, and it seems that it was Santa ______. Oh well, now I won't automatically pass the Chilean wine tables at tastings.

Hunt

Don't feel bad, Hunt - I made a similar mistake the first time I tried a Porto. Rookie mistake!!

Dan-O

Santa Rita?

Something like this

or this

Or Santa Digna:

Anything rings?

M.

Yes Michael,

I believe it is the Santa Rita. The simplicity of the name was what kept me from writing it down. OTOH, at my age and state of advanced senility, especially after a long evening with several bottles of wine, I should attempt to either write EVERYTHING down, or have someone, less impaired, than I, do it for me. Odd, that with all of the Googling that I did for Chilean Cab producers, and the 100s of names/bottles/drawings/photographs, that I looked at, I did not see this one. Maybe I just skimmed past it, and said, "hey, the only reason that that name seems familiar is the Sant Rita Hills AVA (or sub- AVA) in Central CA/US.

Thank you for your thoughts and efforts. It seems that this Cab was going for about 25 BPS wholesale in London, and the restaurant had it for 45 BPS on the list. I'll find it in the US, and hopefully in AZ. This will be the first Chilean that I have actually purchased, with the exception of a half-case of Casa Lapostole, Apalta, which got such favorable reviews, that I could not help myself. Though I've done several wine dinners with the folk from Lapostole, I had not been a fan of their wines, but took a chance on the Apalta.

I appreciate your response, Hunt

Ah, Porto. Those wiley folk up the Duoro can keep one guessing. I know that, normally, a ruby/branded/etc. and a Tawny will have a T-cork and foil capsule, while almost every Vintage will have a traditional cork. However, recently I brought down a Tawny and a deep foil-cutter to offer up an afterdinner sip. To my surprise, it had a regular cork. Off I trudged to get a corkscrew, while my guests told ribald stories about me, in my absence....

Hunt

Clos Apalta is really fine, made from exceptionally old ungrafted rootstocks, from a vineyard originally planted around 1900. From what I have tasted in Chile in 2002 and later here in Austria, one of the top three Chilean wines I had, together with Montes' "Folly" (syrah) and well-known Almaviva.

You're welcome.

M.