WTN: in which I enjoy a Chilean wine, Seña 1999!

[Otto]

As I've said before, miracles shall always abound: I'll admit that I really did like Mondavi's and Chadwick's high end Chilean wine, Seña 1999! It weighed in at a hefty 14% abv and a bloody high price (aka, will I eat for the rest of the month having recently bought another bloody expensive wine?) of 48€. It is a predominantly Cab S (75%) blend with Merlot (16%) and Carmenère (9%) mixed in. It will surely be a surprise that I bought it to anyone who has an idea of my preferences in wine. But I had tasted the 1998 in a recent tasting of top Chilean wines and that had been by far my favourite wine of the tasting. Also today I needed something that would appeal to a wide range of tastes: from the big and fruity to the lovers of the lean and mean and green (mmmm!). This worked and was liked by all as it was a genuinely good compromise.

The colour is very dark. But it is not purple, but red.

The nose has that strange and strangely attractive scent that I think is called bell pepper (though not reminiscent of bell pepper IMO) in our jargon. It isn't overpowering, though, so I don't want to draw attention to it as I've seen it used mostly as a negative descriptor. There is a nice vegetality to the scent and much ripe and sweet fruit - but that is balanced by the savoury notes I mentioned.

The palate is sweet, but moderately tannic and acidic. It is big certainly, too big for my tastes, but it is well balanced - that I have to admit. It is incredibly long also with the lovely vegetal note a lovely counterpoint to all the fruit.

One thing I have noticed about Chilean wines, this one included, is that they all tend to have Cassis. And I don't mean cassis like in Bordeauxs, but Cassis which is almost a parody of itself. That mixed to the ripe fruit is a give away in blind tastings. I have heard speculations that it is caused by a type of yeast used in these wines. Is there any truth to the speculations? Is there a yeast that causes a parody of the Cabernet smell? Or is it terroir?

-Otto- (wondering if it is only Suvi's return that made me like this wine so much....)

[Bob Parsons Alberta]

Don`t know how to answer your question in last paragraph!!I just drink the stuff,LOL.
I think from your notes that the nose and taste could have been opposites?!! Glad you met up with the green capsicums! Thanks for posting on one of the top flights, I am still drinking the $10 stuff!!

Tonite, Cono Sur Organic Cab/Carmenere, $18 Cdn. Big spender here.

[Otto]

Don`t know how to answer your question in last paragraph!!I just drink the stuff,LOL.
I think from your notes that the nose and taste could have been opposites?!! Glad you met up with the green capsicums! Thanks for posting on one of the top flights, I am still drinking the $10 stuff!!

Tonite, Cono Sur Organic Cab/Carmenere, $18 Cdn. Big spender here.

Opposites? Really? I thought they were rather in synch with each other....

I was also going to post on Don Melchor 2003 as that seems really pop and hip and all that (and that apart from Seña it's the only other Chilean I seem to be able to palate for more than half a glass), but Finland ran out of it before I got to buy a bottle. I guess I'll have to order a Beringer Private Reserve 1994 from the hideously expensive special list of our monopoly to try the Cali side. (Does 63€ sound hideous to you on that side of the pond?)