VIU MANENT RESERVA CHARDONNAY VALLE DE CASABLANCA FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1935 PRODUCIDO Y EMBOTELLADO POR VIU MANENT Y CÍA. LTDA. – CARRETERA DEL VINO KM. 37 COLCHAGUA – CHILE 2007 14,5%

NARIZ: a la nariz no se hace interesante con el pasar del tiempo con una sucesión de perfumes verdaderamente envolvente como mantequilla, vainilla, fruta tropical, limón, yerbas frescas, flores del campo y margarita.

BOCA: en la boca es robusto y persistente en igual medida; el cierre es correspondiente con lo que se había identificado a la nariz, o sea limón, fruta tropical y mantequilla. El final de boca te despierta y te da la gana para buscar otro trago y descubrir algo de nuevo; los ligeros escalofríos que corren en el paladar intentan acordarte los grandes blancos franceses.

MARIDAJE: filete de pollo en salsa de champiñones

OPINIÓN PERSONAL: un chardonnay que entusiasma, y una hacienda que convence cada día más. Quiero considerarlo como uno espacio intermedio entre un placentero vino blanco con final almendrado de la Cerdeña (Italia) y un emocionante chardonnay de la Borgoña (Francia). Encima de todo eso, cuando el vino se calienta, la vainilla se transforma en un olor de confetti de una boda de septiembre en mi amada Toscana (Italia).
VIU MANENT SINGLE VINEYARD CABERNET SAUVIGNON – LA CAPILLA ESTATE MIGUEL VIU MANENT – COLCHAGUA – CHILE VALLE DE CASABLANCA PRODUCIDO Y EMBOTELLADO POR VIU MANENT Y CÍA. LTDA. – CARRETERA DEL VINO KM. 37 COLCHAGUA – CHILE 2006 14,5%

NARIZ: al examen olfativo es un vino chileno al 100%: grandes variedades de perfumes bien definidos con una riqueza y una fineza de nariz verdaderamente excelentes con cereza, mora, mermelada, vainilla, sotobosque, humus, yerbas secas, tostado, mentolado, violeta y rosa de bosque.

BOCA: en la boca es un vino fuerte y corpulento aunque la persistencia no es excepcional; el cierre es con yerbas y leño con una discreta elegancia. Se trata de un vino bien hecho porque no se siente el alcohol.

MARIDAJE: pasta con salsa boloñesa

OPINIÓN PERSONAL: con un primer plato de pasta acompañado con un guiso de caza de manera que el tanino del vino contraste la acidez de la receta y la tendencia dulce del preparado alimenticio se oponga a la sapidez de la bebida. En resumida cuenta, la salida es la de una Ferrari en pole-position en el Gran Prix de Montecarlo, pero desafortunadamente, la llegada no permite al equipo de competir para la ganancia final en la clasificación.

A shame you go to Baltimore (240 miles from NY) for 30 minutes.

The new policies of the WA will not allow you to even have a meal with Jay Miller, despite your efforts.

FYI, here is the review from Miller on 2006 Viu 1.

Maybe you ought to ask for clarification…although the higher score helps you out, it once again shows the sloppiness of the WA…

“The note for the 2006, (the 62 pointer) is as follows: “Youthful, structured, slightly chunky, with coffee/mocha notes, black cherry, and blueberry. On the palate the wine has tannin to resolve but with the requisite quantity of fruit. Give it 3-4 years and drink it through 2018. My score: 90+”-Jay Miller

The tasting was not blind and I was present when he was tasting but he didn’t made comments about the wines, the tasting took about 30 minutes. No meals.

Regarding the new rating of Viu 1 2006, I only saw it at WA online rated with 92 points.

Best regards,
Jose Miguel

Did Jay Miller taste these wine blind?

Were you present when he reviewed the wines?

Did you share a meal with Jay Miller or did you just fly from Chile to Baltimore, pour a few wines and fly back to Chile?

If there was a meal, who paid?

Are you aware that the 2006 Viu 1 was originally scored 90 points by Miller and now it is mysteriously a 92 point wine?

I WANT TO THANK YOU PUBLICLY FOR HAVING INITIATED THIS DEBATE ABOUT THE UNGRATEFUL SITUATION THAT AFFECTED OUR EMBLEMATIC WINE, VIU 1 VINTAGE 2006 ( AND OTHER WINES OF VIU MANENT), IN THE LAST REVIEW OF CHILEAN WINES,BY THE WINE ADVOCADE.

AS YOU KNOW, AFTER MY LETTER TO DR. MILLER, HE GENTLY ACCEPTED TO TASTE AGAIN VIU 1 AND SINGLE VINEYARD RANGE; MY ONLY INTENTION WITH THIS REQUEST, WAS TO IMPROVE DR. MILLER’S IMAGE OF THE WINES. SINCERELY, WE WERE ABSOLUTELY SURPRISED WITH THE PUBLICATION OF NEW RATINGS.

THANKS TO DR. JAY MILLER TO GIVE US THIS OPORTUNITY, BUT ESPECIALLY FOR THE PUBLICATION OF CORRECTIVE RATINGS. I BELIEVE THIS IS SOMETHING WITHOUT PRECEDENT, BUT IN THIS SITUATION, COMPLETELY JUSTIFIABLE. CERTAINLY, AN ACT OF COMPREHENSION AND GOOD FAITH, THAT INCREASES MY RESPECT FOR HIM AND THE WA EVEN MORE.

THE DEFINITIVE RATINGS ARE THE FOLLOWING:

VIU 1 2006 92 POINTS

VIU MANENT SINGLE VINEYARDS
SAN CARLOS MALBEC 2007 91 POINTS
EL OLIVAR MALBEC 2007 90 POINTS
LA CAPILLA CABERNET S.2007 90 POINTS
EL OLIVAR ALTO SYRAH 2007 90 POINTS

THANKS TO EVERYBODY FOR THE INTEREST AND SUPPORT.

JOSE MIGUEL VIU
MANAGING DIRECTOR
VIU MANENT

Great analysis. The greatest part about Miller’s cry for support on the Robert Parker censored bulletin board, where I am unable to reply to his cheap shot, is that even though he posted this stuff nearly one week ago and even though he retasted and rescored these wines over ONE MONTH AGO, the scores on the Robert Parker website have still not been adjusted.

I am sure that they will be immediately after I type this as no doubt that they lurk here.

If they were that concerned with a winery’s reputation, one would think that Dr. Jay would have acted more professionally in this matter, however, as we have come to know now, there is not much professionalism going on down in Maryland these days.

I will post after I see the scores change online there. I guess the mainframe needs to be turned on first!

Congratulations to Viu Manent for the 28+ point boost! The only trouble is that they had to endure two months of reputation loss for a wine that was largely the same as the previous vintage (which in and of itself can be a challenge given Chile’s apparent alternation between good years and bad years).

When I first saw the precipitous decline in the score of Viu 1, I raised a quizzical eyebrow and contacted the winery directly.

Why, when he tasted the wines, did Miller not immediately say that there was something wrong with the wines (especially given that he had liked the wines in the past) and request new bottles? Or at the very least, make an inquiry with the winery before going to print?

As to the chronology of events that someone asked about above, I sent my query to Viu Manent at 8:30 AM on May 6. It turns out that later that same day, Viu wrote the head of Wines of Chile in Santiago pleading with him to intervene and contact Miller. The full letter is available here. But here is one paragraph expressing his plight:

Beyond the severe consequences our sales might undergo and the damage to our winery reputation, the team of winemakers, wine-growers, and the commercial team for whom I hold leadership are deeply besieged and shaken by the scores granted and the publication of the same.

Viu replied to me the next day, writing “Our belief is that the samples considered this time cannot possibly be the right ones, but we are still trying to determine what happened by contacting Dr. Jay Miller.”

* * *

I later received the sample wines, let them rest from their journey, and tasted them as per the above post. The day after my post, Miller posted in the forums of erobertparker.com with his new scores. If I hadn’t posted, when would Miller have provided this update to his readers? Will he be informing his readers in the next print edition of the newsletter? Will the scores be adjusted in the database with an asterisk?

If the bottles supplied were these bottles filled with bulk wine, why were the scores so divergent? (75), (65), (69), (65), and (62). If they were all bulk wine, shouldn’t they have all tasted the same? And what is a “90+” the 2006′s new score?

* * *

It’s interesting to note that Posner, a retailer who was at the Viu tasting, wrote on Friday to his customers offering some Argentine wines and swearing off using Miller scores:

You may notice that the scores I am highlighting today are from the International Wine Cellar (Steve Tanzer) and the Wine Spectator (James Molesworth). There are no reviews from Jay Miller of the Wine Advocate. With all of the questions regarding what has gone with his way of scoring wines lately, I just do not feel comfortable offering up any wines with his reviews at this time. Maybe that will change, if his policies of tasting wines change. But after his latest dig about me on Robert Parker’s website, I am sure he will sleep better knowing that I am no longer promoting his wine reviews.

It is unfortunate for me, as a business person, because each of the wines listed below ALL received HIGHER scores from Jay Miller than they did from Tanzer or Molesworth. And if you know anything about me, I am in this to make money, so less points mean less money! Nevertheless, my conscience has gotten the better of me.

I hope you respect the decision that Grapes has elected to take at this time. Keep in mind, you can always see Miller’s reviews on Robert Parker’s website. This decision will include the much anticipated reviews of Spain that are coming out on Tuesday. While we may offer many of the wines that he has scored highly (as we all know there will be some very high scores), we will not be listing his reviews or ratings.

It also came into my mind that the folks of Viu Manent did a great job on this issue. Got lots of exposure from the controversy, cleaned up a little bit of Miller’s tarnished image by retasting the wines and bailing him out from his lack of tasting skills and in return they got a 90+ point score on a wine that was originally rated 62 points. I could bet the farm that as payback to the Viu Manent folks Miller would never give them another lousy score on their wines. Brilliant move.

It would be interesting to split the contents of a magnum bottle into two 750 bottles and serve them blind to Miller to see how he scores each one of them!

No wonder he does all the tastings with the bottles uncovered so he could rate them based on the label and/or the story that the importer tells him. It is amazing that there are still folks that take his wine recommendations seriously.