Put Down Some Chilean Roots – And Pick Up The Root: 1 Cabernet

Chile’s Colchagua Valley has been turning out some inspiring value red wines in the past few years, and one of our favorites is the Root: 1 Cabernet Sauvignon. We opened the 2008 last night and were as pleased as we have been with past vintages.

Right out of the bottle this cab has a dryness that grabs your palette and doesn’t let go until the wine slips past your tongue bringing a light, almost pinot noir-esqsue flavor. After about 3-4 minutes of breathing, the black currant and cherry flavors come forward and the wine moves from a dry jammyness to a fruit forward, yet smooth, glass of wine.

This Chilean wine is a nice blend of Cabernet (85%) and Syrah (15%) and is a favorite of ours to take to house parties for three major reasons:

1) The wine is a value at around $8 at bottle at Costco ; 2) The fancy printed glass bottle helps the wine to stand out and make everyone think you must have brought something from your cellar (shallow I know, but let’s be honest you get why I listed it); 3) The well crafted wine tends to please just about everyone. I have had this wine confused for Bordeaux, a Meritage and a Pinot Noir.

Pair the 2008 Root: 1 Cabernet with your favorite cheeses, red sauce pasta or after dinner chocolates and you can’t go wrong. To be clear, this is a not a superb wine, it is just a very pleasing and easy to drink everyday $8 red.