Matchbook "The Arsonist" Red Blend

Some times we just have to laugh at ourselves.  Matchbook is a fairly well known California winery so we were shocked that their Arsonist Red Blend was sourced from Dundee Hills, Oregon.  Wanting to learn more, we started researching Dundee Hills until we learned seventy-seven percent of their grapes were Pinot Noir.  Huh?  This wine isn't pinot.  Oh...Dunnigan Hills, not Dundee Hills!

Then we started researching Dunnigan Hills, a California AVA where the giant in the industry there is R. H. Phillips.  Since we thought the Matchbook packaging resembled an R. H. Phillips product, we went that route only to learn Matchbook isn't from Phillips.  It is a standalone estate.  For that matter, we also learned R. H. Phillips isn't R. H. Phillips anymore since it has been sold twice, most recently to Constellation which transferred winemaking to their mega-facility at Woodbridge fifty miles away.

As we said, Matchbook is an estate and the red blend asserts its bonafides right on the label.  If a label says "estate bottled" then you better believe everything about the making of that wine is done on the property.  In this industry, that matters.  It's quality control.   

The grape composition for The Arsonist Red Blend is half Petit Verdot (pet-tee vur-doe) with equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.  What's interesting there is that large percentage of Petit Verdot.  Historically Petit Verdot has been limited to no more than ten percent of the traditional blend.  It is a full-bodied, strongly flavored grape that adds punch to the mid-palate of a wine.  In the warmer Mediterranean climate of California's Dunnigan Hills, however, it ripens earlier moderating some of the stronger character traits.  

In a typical Bordeaux blend, Petit Verdot adds color, tannins and floral aromas to the mix with flavors that might include plum, sage, lavender, black cherry and dried herbs.  The grape originated in southwest France but is now planted on every continent.  As we said earlier, in the warmer Mediterranean climates it is softer which probably accounts for its predominance in The Arsonist blend.

The Judgment of Berlin

Twenty-eight years after the earthshaking "Judgment of Paris" wine tasting in 1976, a similar tectonic shift took place in 2004 Berlin.  If you recall, it was the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1974 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that won Best of Show back in '76 sending the wine world recoiling into a protracted spell of the heebee-jeebies.  Back then California was a primitive backwater, unworthy to be on the same table as sophisticated Europe.  In 2004 Berlin it was Chile's time to play "David" to King Europe's "Goliath."  Chile took the top two places out of a field of sixteen of the finest wines in the world at Berlin.

The prevailing wisdom with regard to Chilean wines is that they are a great value.  We consider ourselves to be very much in that camp.  We even extend our valuation to their finer, higher ticket types that compete at higher price points.  Recently we sold through a case of Apaltagua Domus Aurea at eighty dollars a bottle.  That fine red would have compared well with acclaimed types at fifty dollars higher.  So as much as we enjoy our Chilean wines, we have to admit we think of them in relative terms, with the underlying assumption being that the other one, the one the Chilean is being compared to, is really the better wine.

The Berlin quaff-off was the project of Eduardo Chadwick of Vina Errazuriz located in the Aconcagua Valley of Chile, forty or so miles north of Santiago.  Among the French wine glitterati Chadwick had the audacity to challenge were Bordeaux Chateaux Lafite, Latour and Margaux.  Among the Italian Super Tuscans were Tignanello and Sassacaia.  Of course, it was a blind tasting and the judges were beyond reproach.  

Think Chadwick had any anxieties as the first glass was poured?  He claims it would have been a crushing defeat if his wines failed to measure up.  We're not so sure.  Chile isn't really supposed to compete with first world wines, is it?

The number one wine at the Judgment of Berlin tasting was the 2000 Vinedo Chadwick, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon effort.  Number two was Chadwick's 2001 Sena, a Bordeaux blend featuring 75% Cabernet.  Number three was the 2000 Chateau Lafite.  Number four was the 2001 Margaux.  Five was the Sena 2000.  Six was Chadwick 2001 and down at number nine was Chadwick's Dom Maximiano.  So out of sixteen of the world's best wines; six Chileans, six French and four Italians; Chile scored five of the top ten.  Not Bad.

Since then the tastings have been repeated twenty-two times around the world and the Chileans have repeated similar results to Berlin.  Fifty-five percent of the time they dominate the top five and 90% of the time they place in the top three.  Not bad.

Chile

We got some updated numbers on Chilean wine sales recently.  Depending on the news source, Chile is either the fourth or fifth largest wine exporter in the world behind Spain, Italy and France but still ahead of the United States.  They are also either the third or fourth largest importer into this country behind France and Italy and perhaps Australia.  So how did they rise to such heights when they only control 4.6% of the worldwide wine market?

The Chilean wine industry was started by Spanish settlers in the 16th century.  It was a thoroughly domestic market they served for centuries before American demand changed things in the 1980's and 90's.  A 180 degree turn followed when American investment from our industry leaders led to purchases of specific vineyards and wineries AND purchases of bulk wine.  20-25% of Chile's exports have been bulk wine imports to America, China and elsewhere.  So, after centuries of being a domestic-consumption wine country, Chile turned into a global player seemingly overnight.

So where do huge tanks of bulk wine go when imported by American wineries?  They are worked into California wines where, unless the label says estate bottled, only 75% of the wine in the bottle needs to be sourced from California.  Why supplement with Chilean juice?  Two reasons: The stuff is good, better than the bulk wine from California's Central Valley.  Secondly, when a label achieves mass market appeal and the sales numbers indicate a juggernaut going forward, the giant industry players will pay millions of dollars for that label.  They are, in effect, betting their future on it.  Then they need to fill those bottles as economically as they can to make their venture profitable.  Chilean wine is perfect for that purpose.