I don’t have a lot of background on Peñalolen to share.  The winery was founded by Ricardo and Isabel Peña, who brought in Jean-Pascal Lacaze as their winemaker.  Peñalolén also happens to be the name of a community at the eastern edge of Santiago, right up against the Andean foothills.  This is part of the Maipo Valley and while the Peñalolen winery also produces a Sauvignon Blanc with grapes from Casablanca Valley, the grapes in this Cabernet Sauvignon are from Maipo.

Maipo may be Chile’s best known wine region, probably due to the fact that Santiago resides within this region and most large Chilean producers started in Maipo.  It’s also the only official Chilean winemaking region without a coastline.  Most wine produced from Maipo is red and the region is best known for its Cabernet.  So, let’s find out how this one holds up.

The nose is really nice on this Cabernet, with rich vanilla, chocolate, coffee and blackberry aromas.  It’s a touch chalky too.  The palate has massive fruit on it, like blackberry, plum and cassis.  Chocolate flavors hit the mid palate and finish.  But it’s the mouth feel that really makes me like this wine, pure velvet.  The bottom line, this is a very nice wine.

Wine: Peñalolen
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.7%
Rating: 87
Price: $18.00

Find Peñalolen Cabernet Sauvignon with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.