Last updated at 11:34, Friday, 20 March 2009

ABSOLUTELY no doubt about my wine of the week: it’s a stunning red chill-out pinot noir from South America.

Not this time the Cono Sur, as I have recommended in the past, but one simply called Santa Helena pinot noir from Chile’s Casablanca Valley.

It’s in selected Co-op stores and I came across it by chance not in the Cleator Moor superstore, one of my favoured haunts, but at Egremont which normally has a more restricted range.

At a cut-price £5.99 (£2 off) this is an absolute gem, it has genuine finesse and a steal at the price.

It is no secret that my favourite red wine is pinot noir – I’ve sampled them from all over the world, some better than others, but I recommend unreservedly this very classy Santa Helena. So much so that I’d advise anyone thinking they don’t like red wine or for one reason or another have been put off trying it to give this one a go.

Or if it’s just a good rosé you like, then consider going one step further.

This is red-berry elegant, medium-bodied with just the slightest hint of spice and with a beautiful finish.

Pinot noir’s spiritual home, of course, is burgundy where the best is still normally the best but you can only blanch at the prices these days.

You can get bottles of the bourgogne rouge or the hautes-cotes for a reasonable amount of money, but I find much better price and quality value in the pinots from the New World.

All the talk normally is pinot from New Zealand, California and Tasmania, all with the cool coastal climates for growing this notoriously fickle thin-skinned grape away from the hallowed grounds of Burgundy’s fabled Cote d’Or.

But step forward South America, which doesn’t get the recognition it so richly deserves.

Argentina and Chile are producing wine to knock the spots off some of their more vaunted European rivals and at affordable prices whether special offer or not.

How come, when the weather is so hot? The Andes is the answer because the snow melt from the mountains provides perfect irrigation!

It was the Spanish conquistadors who first brought the vine to Chile. The natives, quite naturally, didn’t take too well to giving up their gold in exchange but today some of their wine can justly be regarded as liquid gold.

I have already mentioned Cono Sur, available from the major supermarkets, and also look out for another Chilean called Fresno. Good stuff.

First published at 15:54, Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk