Tastes of Chile + BC Crafters: August 6 Vintages Wine Release

The next Vintages Release on Saturday, August 6 focuses on the tastes of Chile. It's great to see the secondary feature of this release highlighting 5 of our friends from out west (we don't get enough wines from our fellow countrymen & women in British Columbia). However, most of the wines from B.C. in this release are extremely pricey and don't provide great value.

Lots of good Chilean wines to choose from. I'm a sucker for Carmenère - if you haven't tried this grape before, then check out the Siegel (#237859). Normally, I'm not a big fan of Zinfandels, but the Kunde from California looks big enough to try.

Among the whites, the Riesling Spatlese from Mosel stands apart from the rest. For those that prefer unoaked whites, 'Unplugged' Chadonnay from Flat Rock is unoaked.

Enjoy this week's picks, and let me know if you try any of these!

Red Wine:

• HEARTLAND SHIRAZ 2008 - Langhorne Creek/Limestone Coast, South Australia, Australia (#661934) (D) - $19.95
• DOMAINE ARMAND SOLEÏADOR CAIRANNE CÔTES DU RHÔNE-VILLAGES 2009 - AC, Rhône, France (#237560) (XD) - $16.95
• GEHRINGER BROTHERS DRY ROCK VINEYARDS MERLOT 2009 - VQA Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada (#229898) (XD) - $18.95
• SIEGEL CRUCERO RESERVA CARMENÈRE 2008 - Colchagua Valley, Chile (#237859) (XD) - $13.95
• KUNDE ZINFANDEL 2007 - Sonoma Valley, California, USA (#965921) (XD) - $16.95
• EMILIANA ADOBE RESERVA SYRAH 2009 - Rapel Valley, Chile (#213553) (XD) - $12.95

White Wine:

• HOFFMANN-SIMON RIESLING SPÄTLESE 2009 - Prädikatswein, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Mosel, Germany (#216499) (MD) - $19.95
• ANAKENA LILÉN SINGLE VINEYARD VIOGNIER 2010 - Requínoa, Chile (#45138) (XD) - $13.95
• GÉRARD BERTRAND RÉSERVE SPÉCIALE DRY MUSCAT 2009 - IGP Pays d’Oc, Southwest, France (#234674) (D) - $13.95
• MONTES ALPHA CHARDONNAY 2009 - Casablanca Valley, Chile (#390203) (XD) - $19.95
• FLAT ROCK UNPLUGGED CHARDONNAY 2010 - VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada (#68015) (D) - $15.95