I love learning new things… I love it enough to embrace learning from mistakes and having my misconceptions shattered.
OK I realize I’m beginning to sound melodramatic (I blame it on the alcohol!), so let me explain.
I’ve been on a mission to educate people that affordable wines can be good too. It’s one of the reasons I started seriously exploring Chilean wines… I rarely had a need to shell out so much money for an enjoyable one. Plus, I can easily get them from wine shops and supermarkets.
But for the longest time, I have written off the Manila supermarket staple, Santa Carolina, as cheap, “acceptable”, supermarket, Christmas gift basket wine. It was its reputation, and I clung to it like it was biblical truth. That being said, I admittedly never bothered to revisit the label.
Yes, I didn’t realize that I have been an unconscious wine snob.
The label, however, sure showed me.
I was introduced to their mid-high range, the Santa Carolina Reserva de Familia. This Reserva produced a Cabernet Sauvignon of such elegant, robust texture. It had hints of mint enveloping the blackcurrant flavors in what I could only describe as a warm, fuzzy embrace. It does cost about three times their entry level varieties, but for under a thousand pesos, I still don’t need to break the bank for a bottle (or two).
Added trivia: This Maipo wine actually won a gold medal in the Exposition Universelle of Paris in 1889. So you know the wine has history to back it up.
So yes, I am Gail, I was a wine snob, and I am happy that this wine has showed me the error of my ways. 😉
What other wines surprised you? Cheers!
