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Root 1 Heritage Red Maipo Valley Chile 2013

Root 1 Heritage Red from Chile is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Carmenere, 15% Syrah and 7% Petit Verdot.  70% of the wine is aged in French and American oak and 30% is aged in stainless steel and the resulting wine has 13.5% alcohol.  That may be more numerical data than you care to know!

I found the wine to be a medium bodied wine with flavors of ripe cherries and eucalyptus or possibly cedar.  There was a lot of flavor, but I could not decide that I really liked it.  I expected a wine that is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon to have richer, dark berry and oak flavors than this.  Perhaps the aging of a portion of the wine in stainless steel resulted in a lighter wine.  This wine reminded me of some Merlots and Cabernet Sauvignons from Virginia and North Carolina (that are only produced because Americans ask for them) that just do not measure up to California wines grown under better weather conditions. 

I bought this wine for only $7.99 at Costco and it is a decent buy at that price.  It just was not my favorite.

SC Wine Joe rating = 87 points


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