Antiyal, Maipo Valley (Chile) 2009

 This blend is the product of a small family-owned winery of one of Chile’s top winemaking talents, Alvaro Espinoza.  Made from 41% Carmenère, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Syrah, it is big and ripe and very soft in texture.  I’ve tasted several vintages of this bottling and this is the ripest in character of any that I can remember, with virtually none of the telltale notes of cedar and dry herbs that I associate–admiringly–with Chilean reds.  Although I would have been more likely to guess its source as California or Australia than Chile if I’d tasted it blind, its winning flavors and sheer succulence were more than enough to persuade me to give it an excellent score.