Good and not-so-good wines from Chile

A recent visit to V9 perched on the 37th floor of the Silom Sofitel jogged my memory about what an enjoyable spot this is. With a spectacular view of the city, a creative menu and probably the fairest wine prices in the entire country, it should rate regular visits by wine lovers and romantics citywide.

A filled house as usual marked last month's wine tasting, which featured one of Chile's largest family-owned properties, Aresti. Export manager Rodrigo Abatte was on hand directly from winery headquarters in Santiago to present several of the company's wines.

In existence since 1951, founder Vincente Aresti originally intended only to grow grapes but, as with many others with his vocation, the lure of producing his own wines proved overwhelming. An immense 11 million litre-capacity winery situated in the Curico Valley, some 200 kilometres south of Santiago, consumes not only the family grapes but those of dozens of other growers.

Indicative of the Aresti's attention to trends in the marketplace is the fact that they are the largest grower and producer of gewrztraminer in Chile. A prescient move, when interest among an increasing number of wine drinkers in flavourful dry whites appears to be gaining strength.

The V9 tasting featured Aresti's entry-level "Estate" wines priced locally at between Bt500 and Bt600 at Wine Connection shops, including their well-stocked affiliate at V9. The tasting included a lighter bodied '04 carmenere with reserved cherry, red-berry flavours and mild astringency. The '04 cabernet showed good varietal berry and pepper flavours, and medium body with a short but pleasant finish.

The '06 chardonnay evinced a well-judged touch of oak, mild pear and pineapple fruit and even finish. We also tasted '05 reserva merlot, with one-year ageing in French oak yielding moderate complexity and ageing potential. Several international awards have accrued to the merlot, which is unfortunately not available in Thailand due to ridiculously high excise taxes.

While Aresti's estate line does represent the reliable quality we have grown to expect from relatively moderately priced Chilean wines, a lot of barely consumable plonk is now on Thai shelves. A big disappointment recently involved Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Maipo Chile, Valle Central, '04 cabernet and merlot.

Good values at about Bt600 each in previous vintages, the '04 is flawed to the point of being undrinkable by heat, overripe fruit or some other calamity. I bought three different bottles from different sites just to see if bottle variation was the problem, but not so.

Adding insult to injury is a price increase to nearly Bt1,000 for the new vintage, some bottles of which have the familiar current label, others a new design. Sorry circumstances for both the brand and Chile's image.

 Aresti wines at Wine Connection (02) 711 9719.

V9 information at (02) 238 1991.