Almaviva 2005

Back from vacation, I found a moment to post on the wine I had to celebrate the end of the semester a few weeks ago. I have had little chance previously to taste high end Chilean wine, so I figured the conclusion to my last semester of exams at UBC warranted a nice bottle (see you next year in California!). While I initially intended to have a bottle of Nicolas Catena Zapata, that was corked - so I opted for this: a Chilean adventure from Baron Rothschild and Concha y Toro (of Don Melchor fame). Ostensibly, this is made in the Bordeaux style as a Cab dominant blend.

Almaviva is a wine with a superb nose of rose petals, tobacco, Indian spice, mint, cedar and cassis. The palate was killer - both full and crisp with a formed and expressive balance. There was a distinct meatyness to the palate - perhaps gamey - that I find distinctive to Chilean Cabernets from Maipo. A very very long finish (3 minutes) rounded out this nicely sculpted wine that I thought was both a beautiful blend with a distinctive personality and a delightful cross of old and new world styles. On day 2 this added tremendous complexity, and I figure that if this is cellared for 10 years it will be a very special wine.

Excellent+
$133 at BCLDB