2011 Viu Manent Estate Collection Reserva Malbec, Colchagua Valley, Chile

I was wandering around the duty free shops of Santiago de Chile's airport searching for some new bottles and suddenly I saw the "Secreto". First I loved the figure they used on their etiquette which reminded me the paintings of Marc Chagall and I suddenly liked it! And then I saw the 91 Robert Parker points, it seemed strange to me that they make "Malbec" in Chile and at last the price: 12 USD. This should be the perfect combination I said to myself and took it with me all the way to Istanbul. When I opened it yesterday first thing I sensed was the strong smell of spices and oak. It has a nice dark fruit taste and went together well with our pasta dish. Would I buy it again? I think once is enough to have an idea.... 

It has a bronze medal from IWSC.

Viu Manent is a Chilean winery owned by the Viu family. It was founded in 1935 when the Catalonian immigrant Miguel Viu-García and his two sons Agustín and Miguel Viu-Manent founded Bodegas Viu in Santiago de Chile. They bottled and sold wine on the local market under the “Vinos Viu” brand.

In 1966 Miguel Viu Manent fulfilled his long-time dream of making his own wines when he acquired the Hacienda San Carlos de Cunaco in Colchagua. This traditional estate included 150 hectares of vineyards planted to noble, pre-phylloxera vines, as well as a winery and manor house.

It was no coincidence that he chose this particular property; it had long supplied the much of the wine he sold as Vinos Viu.