January Wine of the Month

Chilean Wines

A lot of great wines are coming out of South America recently, particularly Chile. With ideal growing conditions and reasonable vineyard land and labor costs, it is no surprise that Chile is becoming one of the world’s leading producers of wine with a high ratio of value to price. For wine producing grapes, like Malbec, Torrontes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and a few others the Chilean climate is ideal. Chile is the fifth largest exporter of wine to the United States & the number of wineries has grown from 12 in 1995 to over 70 in 2005. According to an article of the Wine Spectator magazine the quality of Chilean wines has improved impressively over the last few years with 60% of the wines reviewed ranking at least 85 points or better, and three fourths of them retail for less than $20. The ones reviewed that we carry are La Joya Merlot (88) & Cab (84), Santa Rita Reserve Chardonnay (86), & Casillero del Diablo Carmenère (88). Chilean wines have also ranked very high at some international competitions according to wikipedia. At the 2005 Berlin wine tasting Chilean wines took 5 of the top 7 places and the 2006 Tokyo tasting Chilean wines had 4 of the top 5 places. Chilean Cabernets are distinctive & very easy to drink with soft tannins and flavors of mint, black currant, olives and smoke. Chardonnays are less distinctive and follow the new world style. Carmenère have softer and gentler tannins than Cabernet with flavors of dark chocolate, tobacco and leather.

Stop in to Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits and check out these wines from Chili: Cono Sur Cabernet, Santa Rita 120 Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Rita Chardonnay, Casillero Del Diablo Carmenere or Cabernet, and Lajoya Carmenere, Cabernet, or Merlot. While shopping you might notice that some wineries buy Chilean wines from the open market, so what used to be Californian wine is now Chilean wine. A few of these would be Pepperwood, Corbett Canyon, and Inglenook.

Present Your Regal Wine Club Card and receive a 10% Discount on all Chilean Wines. Only available on non advertised wines. For More information about the Wine Club or how to join send an E-mail to hyveewineclub@gmail.com