Myself, Ruth and Ev recently attended the Santa Rita "Local Heroes" dinner in the Merrion hotel where along with other members of the trade, journalists and restaurateurs we sat down to an unbelievable meal cooked by Sebastian Maturara, the Chilean chef, flown over especially and all accompanied by some of their finest wines. Nights like these I forget about the long hours, harsh duty rates and anything else that bothers me about the wine business and I figure we have THE BEST jobs in the world!
Santa Rita launched this campaign last year to honour the heroes who fought for their independence from Spain in the Civil war. One of these heroes, Bernard O'Higgins and his 120 man army sought refuge in the cellars of Santa Rita and after resting up went on to win independence for Chile. It was because of Bernard O'Higgins' Irish connections that Santa Rita launched this campaign here in the hope of finding more brave Irishmen and women of the more local kind. The 120 range is so called after these brave men but it is their more premium wines that really impressed on the night.
The star of the night for me was the Pehuén Carmenère. This is a single vineyard Carmenère from the Apalta region. This grape needs a long growing period to ripen fully so the Apalta valley is perfect for this. The wine is called after the native Chilean tree better known to us as the monkey puzzle tree. A deep, dark and luscious colour displaying chocolate, dark cassis, spices, coffee and plenty of fruit on the nose. Big and robust in the mouth with beautiful complexity and a smoky finish that went on long after the last drop. This retails for €54.99 but worth every cent so maybe (dare I say it) a Christmas treat! It needs full-flavoured foods to work with as Sebastian showed us with delicately cooked lamb served with a traditional Chilean corn based salsa. The flavours worked beautifully with this wine.
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A memorable night with great food and beautiful wine but seriously suffered the next morning even though we sensibly dragged ourselves home after the dinner. Recommended Copper Face Jacks to Sebastian... I wonder how that worked out!
Till next Time
Clare
Cellars, the Big Wine Warehouse
CONSUME AND ENJOY IN MODERATION
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