2008 Tierra del Corazon Cabernet Sauvignon

Dark, Smoky South American Shines

I’ve had one other Maipo Valley cab and while the grade here is the same (B+), they really couldn’t be more different wines.

The 2008 Tierra del Corazon Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon is an impressive Chilean cabernet by winemaker Roberto Carranca, Winemaker at Viña Indomita. It’s tough to find info on this specific wine, except in reference to the exact way I came about it: as part of Virgin Wines’ Explorers’ Club.

Way Down South

Still, it’s something worth sharing with you.

The 2008 Tiera del Corazon is dark in the glass, with a nearly-black core, lightening to bright, ruby red edges.

On the nose is a lot of smokiness. Some spice and oak, but lots of smoke. On the palate, there is very little red, or for that matter, black fruit. This medium-bodied, medium-finish wine is smoky smoky smoky, with hints of cedar and oak, tobacco and clove that dance around.

It doesn’t have the structure of a great Old World cab, and it’s not the crowd-pleasing fruit-forward New World style, either. But if the smoke’n'oak aroma paradigm is up your cabernet alley, then you’ll probably dig this.

2008 Tierra del Corazon Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon

2009 Mollydooker Blue-Eyed Boy Shiraz

Crikey! Good Wine, Mate!

Mollydooker's Blue-Eyed Boy

My inexcusably embarrassing attempt to sound Aussie notwithstanding, I had some very good wine over the weekend, and felt compelled to share the news.

See, I haven’t been drinking much wine lately.

I’ll take your sudden, sharp inhalation of breath as a sign of shock. If you’re choking, call 9-1-1. If truly all you’re dealing with is the minor trauma that comes from learning that your favorite1 wine writer hasn’t been partaking of the juice a whole lot lately, then read on.

Way Down South

My mother-in-law had a birthday. I thought it might be a good idea to bring some wine, and frankly, the cellar is getting a bit full. Because I am completely clear about my status as a crapshoot, I have no qualms sharing wine that I’ve been sent by the winery, or a P.R. firm, or whoever else randomly sends me bottles on occasion.

But I do try to pay attention. And I’m glad I did.

Bottles of Mollydooker wine include the direction to do “the Mollydooker Shake” before drinking their wine. What is that, you ask? It’s this, actually:

Sounds patently ridiculous. But then, I’ve been known to do patently ridiculous things. At times in my life, with regularity. So screw it, I thought, I’ll give their silly little process a chance.

Since the Mollydooker Shake includes pouring out a touch of the wine that you can’t get back into the bottle, I took the opportunity to taste that first. It was nice, but nothing special. A run-of-the-mill syrah, with a hint of red fruit, but also some sharp, jagged edges that kept me from loving it.

Then I shook, or Shaked, perhaps,2 and followed the instructions in the video to the letter.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Quite the difference. Supple, silky, rich and creamy, simply bursting with dark red fruit notes. Raspberry and dark cherry flavors mingle with chocolate and espresso in this ridonkulous way. The wine may have been a bit one-note, but that one note had it pleasing everyone present.

I think I might need to drink some more wine. And soon.

Verdict: B+

(Sent to me by Mollydooker blah blah blah I’m in it for the samples and obviously cannot be trusted blah blah blah Parker doesn’t buy his goddamn wine, either blah blah blah FCC)

Footnotes

  1. Ed note: HA! ↩
  2. Damn proper nouns… ↩