WTN: 2003 Concha Y Toro "Don Melchor"

I've not had that much experience or frankly pleasure with Chilean cabs, but I pulled this bottle from my cellar for Beau's Blues Monday.

This seems to be a "serious" wine...very "masculine" in character, and they are obviously trying very hard here. Nose shows dark roasted coffee, plum, some vanillin from the oak, and a hint of fumeyness (California level of alcohol at 14.5%). On the palate, the tannins are definitely present...this is a seriously STRUCTURED wine, yet they remain approachable and the wine softened over the evening. Fruit is definitely plum with some currant, but there is also an interesting vegetal note adding another layer of interest that makes then wine more interesting, imo. Just a hint...nothing dominant or obtrusive. Despite the extraction, I liked this wine quite a bit...there is something primal here, even with the manipulation. It finishes quite savory. Interesting enough, the vanillin on the nose was nowhere on the palate. 90 points. Bravo!

Also: 2007 William Fevre Chablis "Champs Royaux." I really like this chardonnay. Very little oak shows through. good acidity and bright lemon/citrus fruit. There is a delicious bright tangyness in the minerality here. This may sound weird, but the tangyness is almost like a white wine version of good Chianti tangyness. Delicious 90 points.

Could that "vegetal note" be the true Cabernet characteristic that we don't see much of anymore?

Could that "vegetal note" be the true Cabernet characteristic that we don't see much of anymore?

Yep

I don't know, though, that such a vegetal note is completely unknown, even in basic entry level bottlings like Beaulieu Knight's Valley there is some green-ness. Some vintages are worse than others-

I don't like green notes to dominate. Like the weird Western Australian cab we drank the other night-it tasted of green jalapeno juice.

[Jenise]

Brian, you should really seek out an older bottle. That 'something primal' you mentioned morphs into something very attractive in a boy-girl kind of way as these wines age. A '96 recently reminded me how much I like that , and so I purchased some 04's for our cellar.

Cool, Jenise.

We actually have a very good local upscale grocery chain, Nugget Market, in the Vacaville-Davis-Woodland-Sacramento area that carries that very same 2004.

The one "issue" I am having right now is that, screen nickname aside, my favorite single wine remains Cabernet/Bordeaux Blends. I am probably drinking wines like the Don Melchor too soon when I have other, more timely wines to drink.

I've enjoyed the William Fevre Chablis "Champs Royaux" by the glass or half bottle at restaurants (earlier vintage a couple years ago.) It seems to be reliable.

I've enjoyed the William Fevre Chablis "Champs Royaux" by the glass or half bottle at restaurants (earlier vintage a couple years ago.) It seems to be reliable.

I am guessing that is a good description, JC. I don't have a very developed palate for Chardonnay so I am sure there are more transcendent Chablis out there, but I just find it slurpably good.