Fred Tasker’s Chilean Wine Suggestions

Miami Herald wine columnist, Fred Tasker, gave these wine suggestions to go with Chilean cuisine on Linda’s WLRN NPR 91.3 radio program.

The perfect match for Chilean cuisine is Chilean wine. Why not? They’ve grown up together for decades. And the nice thing about Chilean wines is that they can be good and cheap, and they can be really good and expensive. You can take your pick.

            Chile’s biggest winery, Concha y Toro, makes very reliable inexpensive jug wines you buy in supermarkets. Its sauvignon blanc, in a two-bottle magnum, is only about $10. Great for big parties.

And one of my favorite red wines is a rich, red Chilean carmenere. This is a grape that came from France 100 years ago, was interplanted with merlot and sort of forgotten. About 10 years ago the Chileans realized that it wasn’t merlot, so they started making it all by itself, and it turned out to be wonderful.    MontGras winery makes one that has flavors of black cherries and dark chocolate, for $14.

            Something else that’s happening in Chile is that foreign investors are entering the market, bringing expertise and money for cutting-edge equipment. Casa Lapostolle, 100 miles south of Santiago, was founded by the daughter of the French family that makes the liqueur Grand Marnier. Her Cuvee Alexandre, a blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and carmenere, is wonderful and rich, for about $25.

            Another foreign investor is France‘s Mouton Rothschild, which is teaming up with Chile‘s Concha y Toro to make Alma Viva, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère and Cabernet Franc, with aromas and flavors of violets and sandalwood and black plums. It’s about $80.

            So whatever your price range, Chile has something good in it.