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by Fred McMillin
for March 2000
Chilean, Anyone?
Prologue
"Chile has established a worldwide reputation over the last decade for popular, bargain-priced varietal wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot doing well, also."
...Wine Spectator
The Question
You're buying a $10 wine for dinner tonight. Should you pick up a Chilean, or an equally-priced competitor from California, or even Argentina? To get an idea, my panel tasted blind eight Chileans with a few outsiders sprinkled among them. Here are the best bottles.
| Rank | Source | Score | Price | Vintage | The Wine |
| 9th | Chile | 75 | $10 | '98 | Merlot, Montes, TGIC Importer |
| 8th | Chile | 75.5 | $8 | '98 | Merlot, Caliterra (R. Mondavi) |
| 7th | Calif. | 76 | $10 | '93 | Merlot, J. Lohr |
| 6th | Chile | 76.5 | $10 | '98 | Chardonnay, Montes, TGIC |
| 5th | Calif. | 77 | $10 | '96 | Cabernet Sauvignon, Tessera (Seagram) |
| 4th | Chile | 77.2 | $9 | '97 | Cabernet Sauvignon, Calina, (Kendall-Jackson) |
| 3rd | Calif. | 77.4 | $8 | '95 | Merlot, Eagle Peak, Fetzer |
| 2nd | Chile | 77.5 | $10 | '96 | Cabernet Sauvignon, Montes, TGIC |
| 1st | Argtn | 81 | $9.5 | '95 | Cabernet, Oak Cask, Trapiche (Wildman) |
Comments
a) The bottles were all wrapped, so the panel had no indication of which were from Chile. Yet, the ratings of that country's wines were remarkably similar.
b) Since neither the outsiders nor the Chileans showed any clear superiority, tonight I'm buying whichever one I can find on sale.
Postscript
Headstart - It's ironic that the California wine industry is more advanced than the Chilean. How much earlier did Spanish missionaries bring the vine to Chile than they did to the Golden State? Over two hundred years!!
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This page created March 2000