This Chilean Pinot Noir punches above its weight
A mid-weight red with notes of pumpkin pie and cola bean.
Natura Pinot Noir
Chile
$12.49
14.1% alcohol
PLCB Item #308
Sale price through Jan. 5; regularly $14.49
Chile is the world’s largest exporter of fresh fruit, so it’s no surprise that this South American nation has an ideal climate for growing grapes. On a map, Chile looks like a vanilla bean; its northern third is too hot and dry for winemaking and its southern third gets too cold. But if you zoom in on the most populated central third of Chile’s terrain, you find a stack of short river valleys that stretch from the peaks of the Andes to the east to the Pacific Ocean to the west.
These regions get very little rainfall outside the dead of winter so very dry, sunny summers naturally suppress the development of rot, pests, or disease, making organic farming far more economical than in less arid regions. Relatively low land and labor costs also make even conventionally farmed Chilean wines very competitive in price.
All signs point to this midweight dry red wine being a great value for the dollar, which it is. Featuring flavors of fresh blueberries and mildly spiced aromas of cola bean and pumpkin pie, it is both food-friendly and easy-drinking on its own. But many people overlook it simply because the pinot noir grape is not one that Chile is famous for.
European grapes came to Chile with Spanish missionaries in 1555, but vines that make high-quality wines did not arrive for another three centuries. The cuttings imported at that time by a few forward-thinking men of means were mostly from the Bordeaux region, which helps explain why Chile’s red wines are almost all of Bordelais origin: cabernet sauvignons and merlots, with a few malbecs and carménères. Pinot noir, the red grape of Bordeaux’s rival Burgundy region of France is a much more recent phenomenon in Chile, but is showing tremendous promise in cooler vineyard zones and in tasty little wines like this one.
Also available at:
Kreston Wine & Spirits in Wilmington, $11.99
Total Wine & More in Cherry Hill, $15.49
Canal’s Liquors in Pennsauken, $11.99
Joe Canal’s in Marlton, $11.99