2009 Anakena Pinot Noir, Chile

Color – Opaque red

Nose – Strawberry, raspberry, cut grass, celery

Taste – I went into this tasting with an open mind mostly because I’d never sipped Pinot Noir previously, I am quite glad I decided to pick up this bottle as it was a very nice wine though different than anything I’ve tried up to this point. The initial sip has interesting flavors, beginning with raspberry, sour cherry, and chocolate. I know chocolate is a little bit strange, and it’s not small hints of chocolate, but quite a decent taste of chocolate right before the mid-palate. The mid-palate itself is characterized by minimal heat and tannins, what alcohol there is manifests more in the form of pinprick tingles and the tannins show up more towards the finish. The finish itself is medium in length and features more raspberry flavors as well as what I can only describe as “spicy fruit”, something like peppered cherries. The spicy flavor isn’t overwhelming just a tinge of pepper towards the end of the mid-palate. This wine is good, but not superb. As I have never tasted Pinot Noir before I reviewed this solely based on what I like and dislike in any wine. This wine makes the grade but isn’t something I am going nuts about, It’s a good wine for 8 dollars with consistent flavor and depth.

Overall, I would say this wine has a good QPR. It’s nothing fantastic or groundbreaking. You aren’t going to taste a tidal wave of flavors or find a lot of complexity here. It’s rather straight forward in its flavor transitions and while the flavors themselves are strange to me they seem to fit the wine. The rather muted tannins and alcohol do well here as the wine is light-to-medium in body and would not do well with large tannins or an overabundance of alcohol. I wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase this wine if I was looking for something light but would probably find a slightly more expensive Pinot Noir, something to judge this against. It’s a decent wine, not bad, just a solid middle-of-the-pack red wine.

Anakena Wines

2007 Santa Rita Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile

Color – Ruby red

Nose – Plum, blackberry, cherry

Taste – I picked this up at Costco recently, having already tried the Santa Rita 120 Cabernet Sauvignon, I was curious what it’s slightly more expensive older brother might offer. This doesn’t disappoint, I expected good things and this definitely has good things. On the initial sip, I can taste plum and cherry with a nice tinge of green bell pepper, these flavors fade into a mid-palate that tastes of sour blackberries and a little more alcohol than I would have liked, this leads to a long finish of cocoa and possibly some tobacco. There is a strong aftertaste of fruit skins (most likely the tannins coming through) though it’s not unpleasant. The wine itself lacks the depth I expected here and the mouthfeel is a closer to medium-bodied than full-bodied; I had hoped that this wine would be much better than the Santa Rita 120 unfortunately it’s not that big of an improvement. Don’t get me wrong, this wine is still good. Is it better than the Santa Rita 120? Probably not enough to make this have a better QPR, but it’s still a really good Cabernet Sauvignon for the price.

Overall, I’d say this is just a fraction better than the Santa Rita 120 and it’s about three dollars more expensive. Is it three dollars better? That depends on your palate. For me I’d say it’s about dead even. Depending on where I’m shopping and my budget, I’d be just as likely to pick this up as the Santa Rita 120. This is slightly more complex, but that’s to be expected from the differences in the vintages and grapes. Compared to other Cabs at this same price I’d rate this one just slightly above average. I enjoyed it even though it’s not perfect; it’s still a solid wine.

2009 Castle Rock by Cramele Recas Cabernet Sauvignon, Romania

Color – Ruby red

Nose – Black currant, blackberry, flowers

Taste – On first sip, I didn’t think I was going to like this wine. It seemed a little “candy-like” or “chemically”, but I let the wine decant a little and then tried another glass, and that’s when the wine really showed its true colors. This is a great wine. It’s quite complex coming from an 8 dollar bottle; in fact, it might be the most complex bottle I’ve tasted at this price point. The initial flavors are full of black currant, chocolate and flowers; these quickly fade into a mid-palate of perfect alcohol balanced with nice smooth tannins and raspberry hints. The finish is nice and long with flavors of plum, bittersweet chocolate, coffee and pepper. This has some interesting heat to it; the heat doesn’t show up until the tail end of the finish and it feels more like actual pepper heat rather than alcohol heat. Interesting enough this wine is more medium bodied rather than full bodied; from the nose and color I would have expected something “heavier” than that, but it’s still very good. I would say this wine is one of the better that I’ve tasted at the 8 dollar price point. I didn’t expect much from this wine, and it blew my socks off. I was expecting mediocre at best, but this actually has some depth and character to it. Don’t be surprised to find this in my cellar if you come for a visit.

Overall, I would classify this as a great buy for 8 dollars and a great QPR. Make sure you decant the wine for an hour or so, otherwise be prepared for something that tastes more like cherry cough syrup than wine. I would recommend this for any occasion; it’s a rather well rounded wine. You can’t go wrong if you enjoy Cabs with some definite depth to them. This one is a gem at 8 dollars, get some for your cellar now!

Recas Wines