Doña Dominga is a second label for the well known Casa Silva. The label has the objective of high quality, for a lower price point. Casa Silva is also one of only three wineries with 100% of their vineyards as Certified Sustainable and is also 100% family owned with its origins in the Colchagua Valley. Casa Silva is the most award-winning Chilean winery in the 21st century. Continue reading
Category: Wine Reviews
Wine Review: Mini-Vertical Agricola Cuvelier Cuvee del Mautata
Bordeaux fans may recognize the label because this is owned by the Cuvelier family, who own Leoville Poyferre in St. Julien. Their Chilean branch is run by Baptiste Cuvelier. How do the 2011 and 2014 vintages compare? Continue reading
Wine Review: Chilean GSM vs. French GSM
Over the course of the week, I tried two GSM blends: one from the Rhone Valley in France and one from Chile. Which one was better? Continue reading
Wine Review: 2017 Terranoble Gran Reserva Merlot Maule
TerraNoble is a producer that is reliably known for quality, delicious wines. This bottle here is 100% Merlot from the D.O. Valle del Maule. A 14% ABV wine from the 2017 vintage. Continue reading
Wine Review: Pedro Ximénez Two Ways-Falernia and Alvear “1927”
Last weekend I drank a dry white Pedro Ximénez (PX) from Chile and a dessert Pedro Ximénez from Montilla-Moriles, Spain, it’s more known home. How were they? Continue reading
Wine Review: 2018 Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo Reserva Merlot Central Valley
Concha y Toro is one of the most recognizable wine brands out there on the market. They are an enormous company with many, many varieties and styles at their disposal. I wanted to take a closer look at one of the more available wines where you can find nearly anywhere from your local grocery store, to even the sketchy corner market that doesn’t even have a name above the door. This wine is from the Chilean Denomination of Origin (D.O.) of the Central Valley. It’s Merlot, a Bordeaux French variety and one of the world’s most planted grapes. This particular wine comes from a region where many varieties are planted. The soil here is riverbench and benchland soils, while being aged in American oak barrels for a short time. Continue reading
Wine Review: 2016 MontRubí “Gaintus Radical” Sumoll Penedès
There are over 10,000 wine grape varieties in the world, so you can never stop exploring new ones. In some cases new ones are often old ones that just got lost in the shuffle after the phylloxera outbreak. That’s the case with the Sumoll grape. This is my first time trying it. Continue reading
Wine Review: Waqar vs. Alamo Pisco
You may be wondering right now why is there a piece on pisco when this is a wine website? Well, for those of you who are unfamiliar, pisco, is nothing more than distilled wine. That’s right. It comes from grapes, then turns into a sort of wine, followed by a distillation process. Continue reading
Wine Review: 2018 Ventisquero Grey Glacier Single Block GCM Colchagua
I’ve been down this road before with this blend, and wanted to have a revisit. What we have here is the Ventisquero Grey [Glacier] Single Block 2018. This is from the D.O. Valle de Colchagua specifically the Apalta Vineyard. It is a Mediterranean styled blend of garnacha (62%), cariñena (19%) and mataro (19%). The Apalta Vineyard is located not far from the Tinguiririca River. The soils consist of stone and sand, with red clay making it ideal for these particular varieties. It spent six months in French oak. Continue reading
Wine Review: 2017 Villard Expresion Reserve Pinot Noir Casablanca
Less than 25km from the Pacific lies Villard Fine Wines. Here the cool ocean breeze and morning fog make it perfect for Pinot Noir. The French but Swiss-raised founder, Thierry Villard, met his wife in Chile and eventually created his own winery in 1989, when Casablanca was still largely underdeveloped as a wine region. Despite its high quality, it remains a small family boutique winery and is part of the independent winemaker movement, MOVI.