Cono Sur Cabernet Sauvignon Carmenere (Red) 2009 $10.99

South American wines in general, and Chilean wines in particular, will probably appear on these pages a lot. A combination of relatively new wine exports, favorable exchange rates, and fundamentally high quality have conspired to make these wines high value propositions.

And for those of you interested in organic foods, Cono Sur combines all of these attributes into a first rate producer. (To the best of my knowledge, not all their wines are organic. Those that aren't still repute to be from "biodynamically" grown grapes, but until a faithful reader buys me a ticket, I won't be able to investigate first hand.)

The blend in this case is essentially a Bordeaux-style red, though a young one, ready to drink now, rather than one that requires years of patient aging in optimum conditions. The story of the grapes is kind of interesting, if you like food stories, but I won't go into it in detail. Suffice it to say that the Carmenere grape originated in Bordeaux with several different names. In Chile, it was long mistaken for Merlot--and it is nearly extinct in Bordeaux. But it is a Bordeaux grape, and grown to maturity (which takes longer than Merlot) it has somewhat similar flavors (though sometimes more pepper, I'm told), and it suits blending with Cabernet Sauvignon just fine.

I'm generally a fan of Cono Sur wines--if you can find it, the white Viognier is a real treat. This wine is maybe half a step up from other low price Chilean Cabs, with fairly soft tannins. (Tannins are the stuff that makes you pucker when you over steep your hot tea. They are present in red wine skins, and are often the thing that makes people think they don't like red wine. Expensive wine often has "tight" tannins--harsh ones--that are meant to mellow and break down with age, and more importantly, exposure to oxygen. Sometime I'll explain about the silliness of allowing a wine to "breathe" in its original container, but for now take it that the bottle of tannic wine will taste harsh when first opened, and may taste very differently after an hour or two--if the winemaker knew what he or she was doing.) The only harshness--and this is what keeps it at a 4 point rating instead of a 5--comes at the end of a sip ("on the finish" for more aristocratic readers). There's just a hint of straight up alcohol. I didn't note the % on the bottle, so I can't say if it's a result of an overly high alcohol content or just a function of the wine style, but it's the only thing I have to say that's less than very good about this one. It is a very pleasantly drinkable wine.

Pairings: Cab based wines are generally considered classics with red meat and gamier animals, like lamb or venison. This one is maybe a bit more for sipping than pairing, but you will do fine with burgers, broiled steaks, etc. I always like cab with garlic heavy foods, too, as long as there aren't too many tomatoes.

Rating: 4 stars. $10.99.