Chilean wine takes top spot in blind tasting

A blind tasting of 2006 first growths, Super Tuscans, Chilean and Napa wines in New York has seen a Chilean wine come out on top.

The judging panel, which comprised some of New York’s top sommeliers, retailers and critics, picked out Errázuriz Kai in the tasting on Monday 10 May.

Opus One was resigned to second place with Château Haut-Brion in third. A Chilean wine from the same estate as the winner, Errázuriz Don Maximiano, came in fourth, just edging out Château Lafite in fifth.
 
Chilean wines La Cumbre, Seña and Viñedo Chadwick also gained sixth, seventh and ninth places respectively. Napa Valley’s Stag’s Leap was eighth and the Super Tuscan, Sassicaia, tied with Chadwick in ninth.
 
Strikingly, Errázuriz Kai, which is based almost entirely on Carmenère, retails in the US for $80 (£53) a bottle. This is significantly cheaper than the wines it beat – Opus One at $160 and Haut-Brion for up to $500 a bottle.
 
Similarly Errázuriz Don Maximiano has a retail price of $90 dollars, which is far more affordable than Lafite’s highs of $1,000.
 
The most expensive Chilean wine at the tasting was ninth place Viñedo Chadwick with a price of $180 a bottle.
 
The tasting is the latest in a string of events using the same estates that have been held in London, Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing and Amsterdam, Brazil, Toronto, Copenhagen and Stockholm over the years.
 
Berlin’s 2004 tasting achieved some notoriety when the 2000 Viñedo Chadwick and 2001 Seña beat 2000 Lafite and 2001 Margaux to first and second places, leaving Lafite in third and Margaux tied with the 2000 Seña in fourth.
 
The tasting in London last year was the only one in which one or more of the Chilean wines did not appear in the top three positions.
 
Rupert Millar, 13.05.2010