Crucero Wines of Chile
Along with his father, Don Germán, Alberto Siegel founded this winery in Santa Cruz in 1980 and started planting vineyards in the Colchagua valley. At the beginning, Viña Siegel only sold bulk wines to the biggest Chilean wineries, like Concha y Toro, San Pedro and Santa Rita. In 1997, Alberto decided to enter the bottled wines business, and made the necessary investments to go ahead with this project. Now, the winery has a capacity of 2 million gallons and the company owns over 1,300 acres of vineyards in Colchagua.
The 2009 Chardonnay has a warm bouquet that shows off new oak and buttery vanillin in a very California style (you might even think Napa). Medium full and round, that butter note opens the palate, but soon ample fruit flavors move to the fore, as apple, pear and tropical fruit flavors all make an appearance. It has good balance and weight, and a long finish. Voices of Wine rating: 89 points.
The 2008 Cabernet has a lovely and intense ruby color. Beautiful aromas of red ripe fruits, strawberry jam, hints of plums and some vanilla notes fill the bouquet. Mouthfilling and round, this balanced, concentrated and persistent red wine has a soft tannin structure.
The 2008 Carmenere is deep ruby. Cherry, blackcurrant and dark cherry on the nose. Juicy dark fruit flavors turn slightly bitter in the middle palate and are framed by dusty tannins. Finishes with tightly focused bitter cherry and pepper qualities and decent length. This gets better with a bit of aeration. Steven Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar rating: 87 points.
