Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon

Viña Los Vascos is a 580-ha vineyard in the Colchagua region of Chile.  “Los Vascos” means “The Basques” and is a reference to the Basque origins of wine production in the region.

The area was first used as a vineyard in 1750, when it was planted by the Echenique family, of Basque origin, and has been used for wine production ever since.

In 1988, Domaines Barons de Rothschild-Lafite took over the Los Vascos estate and began to restructure and modernize the vineyard under the guidance of Claudio Navajo.  The result has been ever increasing quality in the wine produced by the estate.

I am very excited about the wines I’ve tasted coming out of Chile and the Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 is a great example of why.  It has great flavor, interesting characteristics, and it’s reasonably priced.  I picked up this bottle for $9.99.

At first I was taken by surprise by the nose on this wine.  It wasn’t what I was expecting and that made me suspect momentarily, but I quickly changed my mind.  It has a strong floral characteristic, which is really interesting, plus a bit of smokiness and ripe strawberry.  The palate is primarily strawberry with a bit of vanilla and currant.  It has nice concentration, but not a lot of complexity.  The finish is silky and smoky.  It’s quite different from other Cabs I’ve had, and I found it very enjoyable.  I gave it an 87.

Wine: Los Vascos
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 87