Viña Peñalolen, Maipo Valley (Chile) Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

 Chile’s Maipo Valley makes some of the world’s most distinctive and outstanding Cabernets, and this is one of them in both respects.  Thankfully, it is priced at a level enabling you to experience it to decide if its distinctiveness accords with your personal preferences.  Speaking only for myself (obviously), I adore the wine and its ultra-expressive character, which expresses something closely akin to Domus Aurea, one of my favorite wines in the world.  This isn’t exactly a surprise, as it was made by Jean Pascal Lacaze, winemaker for Domus Aurea.  The wine shows wonderfully, deliciously ripe fruit, but the key elements are the aromatic topnotes of cedar and eucalyptus, as well as the finish, which is all about saline mineral undertow.  The combination of these facets keeps this supremely interesting from stem to stern, with an enduring sense of interplay between the fruit and non-fruit elements that changes as the wine opens, but never lets up.  To be clear, this is no substitute for a splurge experience of Domus Aurea (or the lesser splurge, money-wise of the terrific 2nd wine, Alba de Domus).  Its aromas and flavors aren’t as precise and intricate.  But it is a very, very good wine at an exceptionally attractive price, and I know of no wine near this price level that tastes like this.  It is a thing unto itself (for you Kant lovers), and after your first sniff and taste, you’ll know whether you’ll be buying this by that case for years on end or giving your first bottle to the neighbors.  Oh, if only there could be more wines as individuated as this one.