WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘Chile’

Sometimes you just want a red wine that tastes great and doesn’t make you feel like you’re drinking another meal with your meal.  That’s what the 2010 Apaltagua Reserva Malbec (Sample, MSRP: $12 US) is all about.  There’s nothing heavy or overblown in the least with this estate-grown juice from Chile.

It’s a little quirky with its smoky herbs, mixed with violets on the front palate, but then it changes up on you with a silky-smooth kick of black cherry, plum and black pepper finish.

3 Stars out of 4 for the 2010 Apaltagua Reserva Malbec.  It’s light on its toes for an Chilean Malbec, but being lean and just a little bit mean ain’t a bad thing!

You have no idea how happy I am that it’s Friday! 

How are you making out with your holiday to-do list?  For my wife and I, it sure has been one long and busy week trying get all of the usual weekday stuff done, in addition to hunting down “the right” Red Bull hat ($40 for a freakin’ baseball cap…seriously?!), Tony Hawk skateboard, and running from one video store to the next looking for Nintendo Wii games.  In two words:  we’re spent!

Last night, it sure felt great getting home and just parking it on the couch to enjoy some pizza, a “not-so-usual” bottle of red wine from Chile, and getting our fill of ridiculous reality TV shows.  Yep, it’s the little things in life…

What was so unusual about last night’s Chilean red wine, you ask? 

If you’re a fan of Chilean red wine, then you’ve undoubtedly heard of or have tried a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or even a Carménère from Chile.  However, are you familiar with Carignan from Chile?

Last night we had the pleasure of trying a sensational Chilean Carignan sourced from 60-year-old vines.  The 2010 Meli Carignan (Sample: MSRP: $15) is a blend of 93% Carignan and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon.  I’ll be honest with you:  I was so damn tired last night that I thought it was a Carménère that I was pulling off the rack.  From the very first sip though, this red wine immediately grabbed my attention; so much so, that it made me take a closer look at the front and back label to see just what deliciousness we were actually tasting.  Looking at my chicken scratch for tasting notes, words like “fleshy,” “fresh,” and “rich” immediately came to mind.   The cherry, raspberry and pepper notes on the 2010 Meli Carignan exploded out of the glass!

If you love Chilean red wine, but you’re looking for something a little different to try, a Chilean Carignan might be something worth adding to your holiday shopping list.

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Ambulance Driver: We had to dig him out from under the most peculiar things I ever saw.
Dr. Hill: What things?
Ambulance Driver: Well, I don’t know what they are, I never saw them before. They looked like great big seed pods.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956

It’s official – I have a serious problem:  it’s called edamame obsession. 

My first experiences with these beautiful green pods were by way of visits to local Japanese Fusion restaurants.  Now, I make regular trips to Trader Joe’s to keep an endless supply in my freezer!  Since my indoctrination into the pod people cult, I’ve been popping these cheap, salty little buggers in my mouth every chance I get.  However, there are two problems with this:

1. ADDICTION (duh!)
2. They produce hallucinogenic images in my mind of what is supposed to come next…an amazing assortment of sushi!! 

Well, I’m screwed there – take note:  Poor Man’s Chef, not Sushi Chef.  Miso soup?  Umm, nope.  Bento box filled with beef and chicken teriyaki?  No dice there, either.  On most days I usually have some beef or chicken lying around just waiting to be lacquered with coats of teriyaki, but not tonight – our little minka had zilch.

So what did we have?

Much like every other weeknight, I rummaged through the fridge and freezer, searched through cabinets and spice racks to find something good enough to satisfy the craving.   I was in dire need of finding something that would fulfill the fantastical images that were floating around in my head of what should come next after sipping on a well-deserved gin and tonic and devouring a 20-inch high pile of steaming hot edamame covered in garlic salt and black pepper.  

In my search, I discovered:

• 1pkg. of frozen grilling chorizo sausage
• 1 yellow onion
• ¼ bag of mixed frozen peppers
• 2 handfuls of fresh snow peas
• 1 handful of sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 ready cooked Jimmy Dean turkey sausage links
• 3 slices of deli-sliced sweet honey ham
• Dry cilantro, fresh black and white pepper, and salt from the spice rack

Wine?  Hell yeah!!  I always have some of that sitting around.

Ok, so not exactly sushi delight, but you‘ll definitely find this three-step dinner to be pretty tasty:

1. Grill chorizo sausage.
2. Char all the other ingredients on the list in a hot pan coated with olive oil.
3. Lay a couple of pieces of grilled chorizo sausage down on a plate and top with the charred ingredients from step 2.

Hoping that it would hit the mark, like the 2007 Calcu Red Blend, I paired my Spanish-inspired dish with the 2008 Calcu Carmenere Reserva (Sample, MSRP: $15 US).   Made from 100% Carmenere grapes grown in Chile’s central Colchagua Valley, this tight red needed a shot of coldness to loosen up its smoky grip.  So I decided to take it with me on the deck while I was grilling the sausage, and fed it a cool autumn breeze for about 20 minutes.

After giving it a little jolt, the 2008 Calcu Carmenere Reserva expressed penetrating flavors of blackberry, raspberry, and black currants, along with gripping tannins.

3 Stars out of 4 for the 2008 Calcu Carmenere Reserva.

Cheers!  I’m off for my next edamame score!

Does it get any better than a classic BLT sandwich on a summer day?  It’s pretty ingenious when you stop to think how a simple homegrown tomato, combined with crispy bacon, lettuce and mayonnaise, between two slices of bread can be so damn good. 

Last night, I was really jonesing for a BLT… but I thought I’d to add a touch of gourmet to the classic standard with my own no-fuss variation.

Ingredients:

• 1 fluffy, soft sesame-seed bakery roll 
• 1 homegrown super-ripe tomato 
• 4-6 slices of fully cooked bacon (the pre-cooked kind like Hormel, Oscar Myer, store brand, yadda yadda) 
• Monterey Jack Cheese with Hot Peppers
• Balsamic Vinegar 

Split the roll in half and add a few drops of balsamic vinegar to both halves.  Place strips of bacon, a slice or two of the tomato, and top with a thick slice of Monterey Jack Cheese with Hot Peppers.

Place in toaster oven and cook until toasty and melty.

I decided to pair my little BLT BCT creation with the 2009 William Cole Columbine Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (MSRP: $18 US, Sample).

It’s not one of those big and bad, club-you-over-the-head Cabs, but it did show some attitude with its black cherry, plum, black current, vanilla and oak flavors.  It’s definitely the kind of Cab that demands a little food.

3 out of 4 stars for the 2009 William Cole Columbine Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.  It showed some spunk, but fell in line perfectly with our BCT!