WINE TASTING CyT UK.

When I was in Chile I was lucky enough to travel North of Santiago to the Limarí Valley.  It was AMAZING.  I never knew such a place would exist in Chile let alone South America.  The valley is just on the outskirts of the Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth, so dry they tested moon landings there, so you could say Limarí is extreme, an extreme place to make wine.

We all talk about terroir being really important to wine-making, but how many locations throughout the World can lay claim to having three influences, so complete in their collective to ensure that excellent wines are produced each and every vintage.

The Limarí Valley has them; the luminosity of the Sun’s rays, the proximity to the Pacific Ocean and of course the soil!  CaC03, or calcium carbonate, its mineral rich and nutrient poor, ergo perfect for the wines.

For decades the Chileans have been growing grapes up in Limarí for Pisco production, only in the recent past have a couple of well informed wineries set up production for fine wines.

So...I decided to invite a few of my Sommelier friends to a tasting of our wines from Limarí, I wanted to hear their views on terroir, and seeing as they haven’t been lucky enough, yet, to have been to Limarí, to see if they could taste it, as I can, so clearly in each of the wines which are made.

Where we went...

Koffmans restaurant in The Berkeley – modern French cuisine, elegant, just the place.

Who we were... Igor Sotric from China Tang restaurant, Miguel Hernandez from The Royal Horseguards Hotel and Bryant Mao from Chez Bruce.

          

What we ate...

The menu was delicious; each course as amazing as the last and each with a selection of our wines.

What we tasted...

Maycas del Limarí Reserva Especial Sauvignon Blanc 2009; enjoyed as an aperitif, the sommeliers really found the identity of the wine; they could clearly place it from the Limarí Valley with its distinct mineral character.

Maycas del Limarí Reserva Especial Chardonnay 2008; Also drunk as an aperitif, everyone agreed that the subtlety of the oak did credit to the finished wine.  We agreed that there’s enough body in it to stand up to some pretty tasty starters.

Maycas del Limarí Reserva Pinot Noir 2010; we all loved this as an aperitif wine, with bags of juicy, red fruit and not too intense, it’s light and bright, and lightly chilled is a great summer-time offering.

Food & Wine pairing...

For our starter of pike mousse we had the flagship wine of Maycas del Limarí winery, Quebrada Seca Chardonnay.  This is 100% single vineyard Chardonnay, stood up excellently to the creamy texture of the mousse and the minerality in the wine highlighted the delicate herbs of the dish.

With the main course we had two wines; the Cono Sur 20 Barrels Syrah 2008 and Maycas del Limarí Reserva Especial Syrah 2008.  Maycas Reserva Especial Syrah has only 57% new oak while 20 Barrels uses total new oak and 7% of the Syrah hails from the Maipo Valley.  Interestingly the MdL RE Syrah was considered the better match to the delicate flavours of the duck leg, and the 20 Barrels we all agreed would be better suited to a ‘meatier’ dish, like barbequed steaks.

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Finally we had a selection of cheeses; the board included a goat, ewe, and cow cheese, as well as a blue.  To complement this we drank Maycas del Limarí Reserva Especial Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. The wine included 12% of Syrah (from Limarí too) so has a subtle spicy edge which perfectly balanced the acidity in the cows cheese.

Best wine...

After clear deliberation we all agreed that Quebrada Seca was worthy to be the flagship wine of Maycas del Limarí, the terroir shines through every sip and the over-all quality was more than evident.  

Best food match...

Without doubt the Maycas del Limarí Reserva Especial Cabernet Sauvignon and the cows’ cheese, delicious!


Conclusions...

The Limarí Valley of Chile is definitely an exciting place to be.  Although in its infancy in terms of quality wine production it is already benchmarking against some of the greats of the wine-world and it’s only set to get better.  The balance of the elements which contribute to every bottle is evident in every sip; the sun’s delicate rays, the salty ocean breezes, and perhaps most important of all the minerality of the soils. 

www.cyt-uk.com/news-and-events/news/2012/february/a-trip-to-the-limari-valley-and-tasting-terroir