TN: Cousino Macul Antiquas Riserva 2008

[Chasse-Spleen]

Cousino Macul Antiguas Riserva 2008

This wine threw me a little, and I'd appreciate any comments from people who know the wine or the style that I've seemingly misunderstood or have little experience with that was present in this wine. Let's just say that the only wine that I've ever had that was somewhat similar to this was a cheap Italian cabernet sauvignon, which had a completely different flavor profile from a typical cab. The Antiguas Riserva was much better than that, but different than it was the last time I had it, which was much more like a traditional, typical cabernet - smooth and oaky, with more sweetness and fruit.

Opaque garnet color. Cherries and spearmint on the nose. Not a lot of cabernet varietal character, exactly none at first except for the mintyness. Dry, savory quality in the mouth. Medium bodied, with nice texture. With air, more cab character starts to emerge in the form of some cherry fruit and maybe some darker berries. Oak is not obvious at all, at least to me. Good balance, a bit high acid and definitely on the structured side. 14% alcohol but seems like it would be good with food, probably because of the acidity. Plenty of fine tannins, almost drying at times. This wine could age for awhile, I'm sure. Later, some chocolate emerges on the palate. The finish becomes quite good. Good concentration and complexity. But far from a smooth, typical cabernet style. Probably needs time. A serious bottle for the price.

[Jay Winton]

I remember this wine used to take years to come around and would last forever as well. At some point, they went to a more modern, drink sooner style perhaps to please a certain man from MD. It's good but not as distinctive as it used to be, IMO.

[Houndsong]

I'd have to try it. I haven't had it in years and used to think it was a sort of half-way between bdx and Cali. Sort of bigger than your avg. bdx (especially at 10-12 bucks) but more structured and definitely drier than a smooth, warm $10 Cali cab.

[Chasse-Spleen]

This wine is no longer in the 10 - 12 bucks category, but goes for more like 16 in my parts, although I got it for 13 on sale. Maybe it's on sale because it's so atypical for the style. I can't really imagine that your regular, sweet, smooth cab drinker is going to like this. I think it's a really intriguing example of the wine. I would have to see what some others think about it and also maybe try some other recent vintages to really be sure what's going on. I want to drink it again but with food. I definitely recommend it as a try. Didn't Nic post on it at some point not to recently, or was that an older vintage? Probably, I think he is a fan.

[Blanquito]

Always a reliable value, in my experience.

I never seem to go for it in a wine shop, but it's nice to find on wine lists as it tends to be reasonably priced (utterly unlike Bordeaux).

[Claret]

I used to sell Cousino Macul and the last vintage I tasted was probably 1999. It tended to be somewhat rustic with some notes of burnt rubber and scorched earth. The best comparision was to Graves. The wines were notable for their longevity.

RP always gave decent scores back then. The importer did state the winery had started using some newer barrels which I felt was a good move as I suspected some of the rusticity was a result of the old barrels used.

The winery was and may still be in the city of Santiago Chile.

[alchemeus]

South American wine. Chile?

Usually very good.

Great value.

[JonB]

It has been 10 years since I've spent a lot of time in Chile, but Santiago is used to be very smog ridden, and there were a lot of vehicles not required to have polution contrals, and I recall visiting a vineyard outside of Santiago that had grapes just covered with grime. Come to think of it, there was also a smelter nearby that overlooked the valley (Maipo?) that also billowed out residual.

I've avoided Chilean wines ever since, although there are some reasonable values.

[dstgolf]

Jon,

Just back from Santiago and yes still a smog laden city with the mountains holding the pollution in not unlike LA. I wouldn't however get excited about pollution being an issue with the wine industry. Not unlike Napa etc wine country is quite rural with little industry. Vineyards are a long way from Santiago relatively speaking to other locals. I wouldn't see anyone dumping out their Haut Brion because it's in the heart of Pessac.

I don't disagree that most Chilean wines are somewhat pedestrian. What I found very strange was the low end everyday drinking wines that we pay $15-20 in Canada for are $2-5 in Chile. The high end wines (Sena,Don Maximo etc) are more than double the price??!! I was told these are mostly shipped to foreign markets with little left locally and it becomes supply and demand.

I was amazed price and quality of Argentinian wines of which we get very little at home. Excellant in general. Never had a bad bottle of wine through our stay. Not quite as cheap as Chilean wines at the lower end but the upper end wines in the $40-60 range were wonderful.

[Claret]

When I am in a winebar and do not see any BTG selections that stand out to me, my usual default is Argentine Malbec. I will ask the server what style it is made in as they can get jammy. I like the ones that show black fruits, minerals and acidity.

[alchemeus]

Cousino Macul Antiguas Riserva 2008

This wine threw me a little, and I'd appreciate any comments from people who know the wine or the style that I've seemingly misunderstood or have little experience with that was present in this wine. Let's just say that the only wine that I've ever had that was somewhat similar to this was a cheap Italian cabernet sauvignon, which had a completely different flavor profile from a typical cab. The Antiguas Riserva was much better than that, but different than it was the last time I had it, which was much more like a traditional, typical cabernet - smooth and oaky, with more sweetness and fruit.

Opaque garnet color. Cherries and spearmint on the nose. Not a lot of cabernet varietal character, exactly none at first except for the mintyness. Dry, savory quality in the mouth. Medium bodied, with nice texture. With air, more cab character starts to emerge in the form of some cherry fruit and maybe some darker berries. Oak is not obvious at all, at least to me. Good balance, a bit high acid and definitely on the structured side. 14% alcohol but seems like it would be good with food, probably because of the acidity. Plenty of fine tannins, almost drying at times. This wine could age for awhile, I'm sure. Later, some chocolate emerges on the palate. The finish becomes quite good. Good concentration and complexity. But far from a smooth, typical cabernet style. Probably needs time. A serious bottle for the price.

Just made a post on this, kinda. It's a 'go to' wine for me, though risen in price recently. Always good, sometime better than good, rarely great. They make a Chardonnay that is one of Kathryn's favorites, or once was.