FIRST CLASS SANTA RITA WINES
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| Carlos (right) and yours truly at Isaacs |
Carlos Gatica, Chief Winemaker
with Santa Rita, the
second biggest wine producer in Chile, was in Cork yesterday and brought a
strong line-up to the Gilbeys Wine Tasting Lunch at Isaacs.
Many of you will be familiar
with the Chilean winery’s 120 series and Carlos referred to the story (with a
strong Irish connection) behind the 120 and you may read more on that here.
Santa Rita’s current mission
though is to “educate” their Irish sellers, including hotels and restaurants
who were well represented here, in an effort to broaden the appreciation of the
better Santa Rita wines and particularly their reservas.
The introductory handshake was
a very pleasant concentrated white: the Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2010. This was
accompanied by a selection of tempting tapas.
Could have happily stayed with
those tasty bites but move on we did and Carlos then presented their 2009 Gran Reserva
Medalla Real Chardonnay,
This has quite an intense
bouquet and is a well balanced wine with silky texture and went down well with
a warm salad of Marinated Chicken, smoked bacon and rustic potatoes.
Now it was on to the steak and
the first of the reds. This was the superb Pehmén Carménère 2007 made with grapes from an old vineyard in the
Apalta Valley. Aging is in 100% French oak barrels for 18 months. Really liked
this flavoursome persistent wine.
The cheese made its appearance
as it was time for the piece de résistance: a vertical tasting of the classic
Casa Real. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon “seeks to obtain the maximum expression
of the Alto Jaheul terroir”. New French oak barrels are used.
Many of you will know that
vertical tasting means tasting the same wine from different years. The vintages
at Isaacs were 2007, 2002 and 1999. The still young 2007, marginally higher in
ABV @ 14.5%, was of excellent quality, the fruit concentrated after a good
year, but was overshadowed by the other two.
The very elegant and
concentrated 2002 (14.4%) was perhaps my favourite. Well balanced with ripe
flavours and tannins, it has a full body and “a sleek finish”.
No vote was taken but the
number one choice was the 1999 (4.3%), an “opulent” wine from an “opulent”
year. The winemaker’s comments covered it all: "As a terroir concept, the 1999
vintage has been undoubtedly considered as the maximum expression of a 100%
Cabernet Sauvignon to date.”
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| Maipo Valley |
Interesting to note that Santa
Rita has a presence in six wine areas of the country, allowing it to grow many
different kinds of grape and expand its portfolio. Some of their areas are
north of Santiago de Chile, some to the south (Carlos lives in Curicó), some
are close to the coast, others in the foothills of the Andes. The valleys are
Limari, Casablanca, Leyda, Rapel, Maipo and Apalto.
Credit to Gilbeys for putting
on this excellent event “the first of many around the country”. Well done also
to Carlos for his descriptions and humour and for bringing such a stunning selection
to Isaacs.
