Good Morning!

I took a few weeks off from blogging over the holidays and I received so many emails asking me what have I been drinking and thought I would write just a bit about my recent wine conquests. 2 wines really stick out for me and I can give you a little story about each one and maybe you will see why I loved the whole experience of each wine.

Both of these wines are Chilean, that will probably not surprise anyone, the two wines are both from wineries I spent some considerable time in last spring when I worked in Chile for Lapostolle wines as an apprentice winemaker. The first wine I fell in love with is the 2008 Casas del Bosque Gran Reserva Chardonnay. It is an unoaked Chardonnay and the grapes are grown in the Casablanca valley in Chile. Chile is split into three main areas of grape growing and Casablanca looks very similar to Sonoma valley. It is not fancy like Napa, you will see more trucks than sedans, you will see amazing tasting rooms located in the middle of next to nowhere and it is peaceful. Beautiful and scenic and the wines really reflect the area. This Chardonnay is so crisp, clean and pure with a bite a granny smith apple. I have fallen in love with unoaked Chardonnay’s since my fav winemaker Cindy Cosco introduced me to her Passaggio wines. Since these wines spend no time in a barrel all you get is the true flavors of the grapes. You can find Cindy’s wines on the internet at www.passaggio.com but to find the Casas del Bosque, I found this bottle in the grocery store in the middle of San Antonio, Texas. It was $14 bucks and the second I took a sip, I was transformed right back to Chile in the heat of March and it was like magic. It is not a complex wine, it’s not supposed to be, it is perfect for a warm day, it is perfect while surfing the net, it is perfect while watching a sappy Christmas movie as well….you can see what I was doing while I was enjoying this bottle.

The other bottle from Chile was Cousino-Macul 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maipo Valley the second major growing region in Chile for wine grapes. When I first landed in Santiago, I was taken to this winery, which when first built it was outside of the major city, but because the city has grown so much it sits in the city. Some of the grapes are grown right there, but many are grown miles away at the vineyards. This winery is beautiful (I know, they all are). I had an english speaking guide named Martin, say it Mar teen…it sounds better in Spanish, anyway, Martin is a full on sommelier and I loved him, he told me stories of the damage that happened to the winery after flooding and filled me with tons of memories to last forever in my mind. He took me to a tasting room and we must of tried 8-10 wines and the wine I liked the best during my trip to Cousino-Macul was their Riesling. I know, Riesling? But it was crisp and almost oily and the nose was so unique, I bought a several bottles of the Riesling to bring back…this really surprised me.

So anytime I see wines from Cousino-Macul, I buy them, because I know once I tried the Riesling, I never gave the rest of the wines a chance. I found in the grocery store their 2010 Cab and picked it up. I was making short ribs and my step-son was here for Christmas. I had been cooking for what seemed to be an eternity and I opened the bottle and put two cups in the pan with the ribs and poured myself and Corey a glass. He said “Damn, that is good”. He is not a wine guru, he is 21 and I am thrilled he has picked up a little wine knowledge from me but I want him to feel empowered when he talks about wine, so I said what do you mean, he says it tastes so smooth. (This is a massive step up from it tastes good). I said what are you experiencing, he said I smell blackberries and kinda some smokiness. He always asks about alcohol content, so I told him it was about 14%. I really had fun enjoying this Cabernet with my main man. It was smooth, young and balanced. It had hints of green pepper and leather in it which I thought was interesting since it was such a young wine. This wine was $15 in the store.

Neither wine was a wallet busting price, both wines took me back to my time in Chile and I created a few moments with Corey while we made Christmas dinner. I have a couple more bottles I opened over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday I will share with you tomorrow!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi