Week 20/98

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Casillero del Diablo Chardonnay 1996 Viña Concha y Toro Valle del Aconcagua - Chile 51,10 FIM 10,47 EURO ~US$ 9,50 Repetitia est mater studiorum. One helluva WHITE !

Free-sing(ing) in hell!

Hell froze just in time to cool these weathers to make the most impossible unlikelihood a reality. The first white wine page of Wine of the Week (former Red Wine of the Week) is a 'historic' fact. And I should have guessed already at the time of sipping this devil's red that the good-old mortal enemy will have his hoof stuck deep in this turn. When it gets colder on the surface in Chile, the depths of our hell freeze, and it gets sweaty on top. There is no other advice to a little wine-craving person than to take advantage of his own history and rework the puzzle. Just like history itself, repeating itself endlessly, but never in the same way. Concha y Toro is fortunately a safe piece in the puzzle of discoveries. It's very hard to find a wine-writer who hasn't, on the whole, thanked this 'toro' - be it white or red. Chardonnay is ofcourse in the fashionable main-stream - and able to give pure expression to the grape. Am I right in having slight notions of apricots around the grape per se? And even small peppers in this white that's made tasty with a bit (4 g / litre) of sugary sweetness. The colour: light straw with a hint of green-yellow to it's side. A young, fresh wine, but with a clear structure. The enjoyable, grapy taste isn't much affected by the oak used in maturing. The little bits of acids are very beneficial. My mind: a recommendable and PQR-wealthy package of enjoyable grape. And be very careful with white-wine chilling, unless you enjoy sugar in your mouth (thinking that more than a sip makes wine more enjoyable). If a hotter devil's juice is still of interest to you, go here.