2007 Misiones De Rengo Cabernet Sauvignon

For the longest time, I've been avoiding Chilean wines. There were rumors circulating that Chilean farming practices were causing harm not to the environment, but to the workers themselves. Of course, being the great lemming that I am, I bought right into these rumors without doing adequate research. So when Antoinette at Cork and Fork suggested that I try a Chilean wine, I thought it time to revisit my stance on these rumors. All I can say is that to date, my research has shown me no credible proof that there is a connection between farming practices and poor worker health. Caveat emptor.

With that being said, I sat down to this bottle of 2007 Misiones De Rengo Cabernet Sauvignon. This winery is located in the Central Valley Region of Chile which as the name suggests, puts it in the middle of the country. They are clearly in touch with the times as Misiones De Rengo is committed to going green with zero for a carbon footprint in the production of their wines. If nothing else, their web site has a kind of cool flash animation but I would really enjoy more content, especially about their wines.

The wine was a dark ruby color but not so thick that you couldn't see light through it. The nose had a strong petroleum smell with green pepper. You tasted a bit or the petroleum at first, but this quickly gave way to berry and green pepper. This wine was heavy on the tannins and left a puckery finish in your mouth. Overall it had a bit of a rustic feel, not a lot of complexity but it would make a nice accompaniment to a grilled steak.