2004 Concha y Toro Frontera Sauvignon Blanc

Back in January, I blogged about drinking the lowest and highest wines from the Concha y Toro vineyards in a single evening. I've always enjoyed their products, particularly the Marques line. Even though I've been drinking a lot more Argentinian wine recently, I still have a soft spot for Chile.

One of my local tiny wine shops often has a pallet of inexpensive table wine near the front door, and the selection is constantly changing. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's boring, but they're usually worth having for the price. (Here in Memphis we don't get "Two Buck Chuck", but this is pretty close.) Obviously lots of places do this, but with this particular store, due to the limited space and high turnover, inexpensive wines don't sit around forever slowly turning into undrinkable swill. And the owners typically do a decent job of picking out stuff that's halfway decent.

So I got a couple of the Concha y Toro Frontera wines, their bargain table wine label. Tonight I'm sipping on the 2004 Concha y Toro Frontera Sauvignon Blanc. At $4 a bottle, it's hard to pass up for casual summer consumption. Initially it has a harsh nose, not flawed, but fortunately it mellows out by the second glass. It's slightly tart but not crisp, with mild lemon flavors and a soft finish. (I think the splash of Sémillon makes a pleasant addition.) Would be a good casual party or picnic wine if you're not amongst serious wine drinkers. In fact, I'm having it with some leftover potato salad and fresh local tomatoes.

After a long day at work, it was a pleasant way to grab a snack and unwind... I grabbed my beloved copy of the Larousse Gastronomique and just bounced around to random entries, finding the wine and history of French cooking to be a great way to get e-commerce and malfunctioning printer problems out of my head.