Peñalolen, Maipo Valley (Chile) Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

 This is the richest, most dramatic rendition of this wine that I can recall, and I can recall lots of them, as I’m fortunate to taste this wine in almost every vintage.  The ownership behind this is the same as Domus Aurea, which is on my short list of favorite Cabernet-based wines from anywhere — not just Chile.  That is a conceivably important fact, as there’s a sense in which this is likely the “third wine” of a trio if you think about this in relation to the top wines of Bordeaux, with Domus Aurea being the “Grand Vin,” and Alba de Domus being the “Super Second,” to adopt terms by analogy that are familiar to great estates from the Medoc.  Working with wines on “tiers” like this offers many advantages to producers and consumers alike.  For the producer, it permits assembling the “upper tier” wines by including vineyard plots — and later, barrels of finished wine — that suit the winemaker’s intended style, especially for the top wine.  The second wine can still be very, very good but notably less expensive, and the “third wine” can sometimes be a fabulous bargain that offers a taste of a great growing site at an extremely reasonable price.  This last description fits the 2018 Peñalolen perfectly.  This release is unusually rich and concentrated, which is no doubt partly a function of the growing season, but my educated guess is that the wine also benefits from inclusion of some of the more “minty”-seeming barrels that were not included in Domus Aurea or Alba de Domus.  The main vineyard behind these wines has always shown some eucalyptus characters along with other notes associated with Maipo Valley wines close to (or even within) Santiago, and these seem toned down in the 2018 Domus Aurea, but tuned up in this $20 wine.  That’s fine with me in both cases, as I don’t dislike these minty notes, though some expert tasters do.  Some famous wines such as “Don Melchior” from Concha y Toro and “Insignia” from Joseph Phelps Vineyards in Napa were both re-styled years ago to minimize eucalyptus notes that were once quite prominent in them, and something similar may be going on here, under the ownership of Ricardo and Isabel Peña.  I’ll do some checking on that, and may well circle back to write more about these wines in a blog or a column after learning more about current plans (I haven’t been to the winery since July of 2019).  For now, you should seek this out, try a bottle, and then load up if you like it as much as I do — which is very much.  It is dark and deeply flavored and extremely expressive in both aroma and flavor, and also impressive in potential, as it was essentially uncompromised by the trial of being left uncorked and unrefrigerated for a full 24 hours — but then still tasting just as good on a second evening.  The bottom line?  You’ve surely heard of “grand theft auto,” and at $20, this is Grand Theft Vino, so act accordingly.