Cousiño-Macul Vertical Tasting

I much prefer to go to technical tastings rather than winemaker lunches or portfolio tastings. You don’t have to be witty, chatty, or even civil, you can just taste the wine, write some notes and head home. That said, there is a place for the lunches and the dinners, but those are usually more about the people involved than the wines.

My favourite technical tastings are the vertical tastings, in which you taste different vintages of one wine. From a wine geek point of view, you get to try lots of a wine you like and watch it develop over the different years. Changing weather conditions, vintage variations, new winemakers and big events such as the wildfires in the Okanagan a few years ago all play a role in the development of the wines.

Wine Access had the opportunity to sit down with Arturo Cousiño of Cousiño-Macul. We had lunch with the winemaker and an opportunity to interview him, followed by a combination horizontal and vertical tasting of his wines. A horizontal tasting is a tasting of several wines from a winery, the cabernet, merlot, and sauvignon blanc at a single tasting would be a horizontal, while having several years of the same merlot would be a vertical tasting.

Cousiño-Macul has been around since 1856 and its wines, winemaking and philosophy have always been influenced by the French. Look for old world wines, low yields and estate fruit from this winery. This ideology produces wines are damn good, very well priced and cabernet sauvignon that can age for decades.

This was my second vertical tasting of the Cousiño-Macul Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon and I was definitely looking forward to it. This is a wine that retails in Canada for less than $20 and can often age for about 30 years. I kept my notes from my first tasting and I am happy to report that the wines that showed well almost two years ago still showed well.

The lineup of wines included:

• 2008 Antiguas Reservas Chardonnay
• 2007 Antiguas Reservas Merlot
• 2007 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2003 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1997 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1992 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon
  1988 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1978 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1999 Finis Terrae (Their fairly new, high end wine that retails for around $27 or so.)

The reviews for the first three wines can be found through the wine search on the Wine Access website, so I won’t go into too much detail and rather focus on the cabernets through the years.

2007 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon

The current vintage, lots of cedar, bell pepper, spice, generous fruits, including tannins, and a touch heat. A youthful cabernet to be sure, but very drinkable.

2003 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon

Slightly smoky with more liquorice tones than the 2007, but still quite dark and dense. Drinking very well now, but I found it had a little granulated rubber character, much like pinotage, which I don’t favour. Cousiño-Macul brought in a new winemaker in 2003, which may have impacted this cabernet sauvignon.

1997 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon

This is 13-years-old and showing good secondary development of tar and leather. A very mild caramel note, almost like Madeira, perhaps related to the handling of the bottles. Some bricking on the rim, but holding its own with plenty of life and development. In 2001, the winery switched to French oak barrels.

1992 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon

A touch closed at first and more closed than its 1997 neighbour, but a little more subtle and easier to enjoy. Fairly smoky with some mint and cedar aromas. Tasty, mature and good—not bad for an 18-year-old wine that probably sold in Alberta for $5-7.

1988 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon

I will definitely remember this wine. Some russet colours on the rim, tar, cherry, currant jam, spice and leather. This is aging really well, nearly perfectly aged for my tastes. This was my favourite of the vertical, 22-years-old and still kicking.

1978 Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon

Perhaps a little tired, it shows aromas of coffee grounds, some menthol/cherry, spice and a hint of dried mushroom. It’s definitely more than merely drinkable, but is perhaps a little over the hill. If I had some in my cellar, I might keep one or two out of curiosity, but wouldn’t expect them to get better from here. I think it ran the distance, 32-years-old is a long time for a bottle of wine.

We closed off the tasting with the 1999 Finis Terrae, which is their cabernet sauvignon/merlot blend (typically around 60-40,) which was really good for about $27. Right off the top, I got Glossette Raisins, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s showing well with a few years and might be a good contender for a thirty year vertical in a few years.

I know I’ll be there.

Cheers!