If your pocketbook is still hurting in the recession and you still want a premium wine, look for the Chilean section of your local wine shop or supermarket. Winemakers in Chile are producing some of the world’s best values these days. Many of these values come from large, well established vineyards with long histories in the wine business. Vina Santa Ema is one of those wineries. This winery was started by an Italian winemaker who immigrated to Chile from Italy’s Piedmont region during the late 1800s.
According to the winery’s website, the company began exporting wine in 1986, with the United its primary market. Today, they export to 30 nations, and boast as being “consistently among the top 10 Chilean wineries in terms of sales” in the United States. The winery is located in Chile’s Maipo region, but the company has vineyards in Maipo, Cachapoal, Casablanca, and Leyda.
The Wine Spectator highly ranks a number of their wines and lists some among their “top values.” The winery is praised in one of their blogs as well.Wine and Spirits magazine lists Santa Ema wines as among year’s best wines in 2007.
Among their best value is the Maipo-grown Vina Santa Ema Reserve Merlot, 2005. Several months back, Costco offered this wine for sale for an astoundingly low price of about $7! This was an unbelievable value, and not surprisingly, the bottles literally flew off the shelves. This wine usually retails for closer to $11, and it is still a very good buy at that price. The Wine Specialist offers it for $9.99, but supplies are low, although they say they usually stock it.
This wine is 100 percent Merlot that is aged in 100 percent French oak barrels for eight months. The winemaker notes describe it as: “Very fruity wine with aromas of plums, blackberries, and black currant, accompanied by intense notes of caramel, chocolate, and vanilla.” It is in fact very smooth, without any hard edges and off flavors.
The Wine Spectator gives it 90 points and describes it as: “Muscular, with solid loam, raspberry, blackberry, fig paste and coffee notes backed by a broad, dark, toasty finish. Rock-solid. Drink now through 2010.” Quite impressive at $10 a bottle!
