Winemaker’s Blend – A Wise Spend

It’s the case where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Some of the world’s greatest wines are blends and not made from just one grape variety. Think of the great Château wines of Bordeaux, many selling in the hundreds, some in the thousands of dollars. Just two weeks ago we were fortunate to visit our Chilean supplier, Matetic Vineyards. Located in the El Rosario Valley, part of the San Antonio appellation, its vineyards are only 15 km from the Pacific Ocean with cooling ocean breezes funnelling in. Matetic is making its mark locally and internationally with cool climate Syrah. Hailing from its oldest vineyard blocks, Syrah makes up 50% of the blend with equal parts of Malbec and Cabernet Franc making up the balance. Intense red fruit aromas along with cocoa and spices dominate the bouquet. On the palate the wine is full bodied with round smooth tannins and juicy acidity. At Matetic’s on-site restaurant, Equilibrio, we were able to enjoy their signature beef dish - short ribs- with this wine. Beef ribs are braised in their Syrah. And then cooked sous-vide, meaning vacuum sealing the meat in a bag with its own juices and then cooking it to a precise temperature in a water bath. The juiciest and most tender meat we have ever tasted, it just fell off the bone. And then to pair it with Corralillo Winemaker’s Blend - magic! Definitely worth the 11 hour flight from Toronto. Tim Atkin scored the wine with 92 points.      

 2019 Matetic Corralillo Winemaker’s Blend # 541177, $25.95