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At last! I have found something high-end and exciting from Chile, after a string of near misses and disappointments. It’s a new-ish boutique winery, Tunquen. You can find their website here. These wines had something different to most Chilean wines, and I really liked them. The winegrowers here are clearly aiming at elegance, avoiding over-extraction, and [...]
I may be in a minority, but I reckon Chile’s whites are a bit more interesting than reds at the moment. And Riesling, although it’s still quite rare here, could be particularly interesting. Here’s a contrasting pair that I’ve recently tried, from rather different terroirs. Gran Valle de Niebla Reserve Riesling 2011 Bio Bio, Chile The long bank holiday weekend provided an ideal opportunity for a family get together. Remarkably, we managed to find a house big enough to take 15 on budget in the quaint village of Erdisland, Herefordshire. My job on these occasions is to provide the wine. There’s a strong demand for crisp, dry, unoaked white wine, and [...] This is a nicely poised, brilliantly drinkable and well balanced Riesling from Cono Sur. Can’t think of a better one for the money (£6.45 from Tesco.com, although currently listed as out of stock). Cono Sur Bicycle Riesling 2010 Central Valley, Chile Costero Syrah 2008 from Vina Leyda, in the Leyda Valley. Bright, vivid, peppery. Sweet fruit, but not too sweet. Some notes of olive. Black cherry and blackberry fruit, with a hint of Chileanness, but not too much. It was a bargain at £6.99 on multibuy from Majestic a year ago. I wish I had bought more, [...] So, here’s a short film. I taste three different Gewurztraminers – from Alsace, Chile and Hungary – and talk about them.
Had a very enjoyable dinner last night at the offices of Mentzendorff, a major high-end UK agency house. It was more fun than work, but I took some notes on the wines in my usual geeky way. Here they are. Champagne Ayala Perle d’Ayala Nature 2002 Very happy to find two delicious wines in Asda at a fiver each. They are a pair from Chilean producer Mayu, located in the stunning and remote Elqui region in the north. They are made by Italian ex-pat Giorgio Flessati (above), who is the winemaker at Falernia and Mayu, two closely related companies. The white is [...] I am properly tired. The third day of the London International Wine Fair (held in the Docklands, above) was a good one, but after a late night last night (at the wonderful Brawn), an early-ish start this morning, and some residual illness from the weekend, and I’m spent, gov. Nothing left in the tank. Oh, [...] Gewurztraminer is a funny grape. Usually, I like it in small doses. It can be just a bit too distinctive. But I did once have lunch with someone who was suffering from a Gewurztraminer-induced hangover. Anyway, this is a really good Chilean example of this grape variety. Brilliant balance. Maiden Flight Gewurztraminer 2010 Casablanca Valley, Chile |
 This is the blog of wine journalist Jamie Goode, online since 2001. Feel free to nose around; your comments are welcomed.
 
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