Copa Del Rey Chilean 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon - 6 Pack
$49.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION: Red
PRODUCT: 6 Copa Del Rey Chilean 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
CT link above

Winery website

Same price at WineChateau .
But Woot as always has the best shipping rate for wine

It was about time we get to taste chilean quality wines!

I've had some inexpensive Chilean Cabs that weren't bad. Not spectacular, mind you, but good values nonetheless.

I don't suppose there's anyone around who has tried this?

short review

"Their blurb says this wine is: "the Cup of the King." I'm thinking the King of ID, here. It otherwise comes across as drinkable, but just."


Also, the obvious question: Table wine or no, is this ready to drink?

Chilean Cabs should be good QPR being ubiquitous low-mid end fare on euro supermarkets. This will be of a new world style, like Australian Wines, with ripe dark black flavours. If you like the TLC and similar wines this is likely for you. However, beware that there are many mediocre ones too: hoping these are- being from WD- a cut above the mass market standard in European supermarkets.

High pH and ripe dark flavours: Likely drinking young..

richardhod wrote:Chilean Cabs should be good QPR being ubiquitous low-mid end fare on euro supermarkets. This will be of a new world style, like Australian Wines, with ripe dark black flavours. If you like the TLC and similar wines this is likely for you. However, beware that there are many mediocre ones too: hoping these are- being from WD- a cut above the mass market standard in European supermarkets.

High pH and ripe dark flavours: Likely drinking young..

Hi Richard. Have you had many Chilean Cabs? I seem to find them at parties where the host asks "red or white," and I don't remember all the labels. Two of the more tolerable for me were Montes (better) and Frontera (tolerable at best). Neither had much acidity; both were young and dark-fruity. The Montes won easily on aroma and finish.

Although I can always use some cheapies, truth be told I don't think I'll order owing to the weather forecast. It's just getting too cold to risk it.

Still, love to hear your opinion.

Nightghost, saw the negative review on that same site too, but given their catch-phrase is 'we review bad wines so you don't have to' I figure maybe they have pre-existing bias? Also an '08 Cab might be a bit young to drink without some time to decant/smooth out?

Here's the winery website just in case it wasn't linked above yet.

Also for those comparing to the TLC I will chime in that while my first bottle right after it arrived spring-time last year was 'meh' I have since tried more and I would say that more time in the bottle is doing it good. Still a good value, and I would say in general I've had some same kind of experience with many of the same type of value-priced Chilean wines. World-stopping? No - but definitely a tasty juice for day to day/good cooking at a good price vs what you would need to spend for a similar offering from many other regions!

My 'cellar' is technically over-full at this time but at this price point I may be in for this as well... Would value more input from people who have actually tasted it or the winery themselves to help me decide!

NightGhost wrote:Hi Richard. Have you had many Chilean Cabs? I seem to find them at parties where the host asks "red or white," and I don't remember all the labels. Two of the more tolerable for me were Montes (better) and Frontera (tolerable at best). Neither had much acidity; both were young and dark-fruity. The Montes won easily on aroma and finish.

Although I can always use some cheapies, truth be told I don't think I'll order owing to the weather forecast. It's just getting too cold to risk it.

Still, love to hear your opinion.

I'm not really a Chilean expert, but the cheapies, like Concha Y Toro is standard charcoalfruit marginally drinkable supermarket mass fodder. Not my style but it's dependably predictable.

While this should be better, I sense it's of that ripeness, not like Ty Caton 's smoothness but the densenesss of the Aussies. I hear good Chilean wines really are very good, but have not yet tried a quality one myself..

Also awaiting some real data points / reviews

Seems like high pH and low TA for a cab. And 2008 seems really young. But is it going to be cab-like and drinkable, or as bad as a $9 cab has the potential to be?

I don't have a whole lot of experience w/ Chilean wines, I've had a few. My favorite has been Laura Hartwig. It was at least 5 years back and it was quite great and cheap to boot.

I haven't really ran across any lately however.

TooOldForThis wrote:Seems like high pH and low TA for a cab. And 2008 seems really young. But is it going to be cab-like and drinkable, or as bad as a $9 cab has the potential to be?

Good question! I can get Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo for the same price by the bottle, and it is decent wine. There needs to be some added motivation here besides price.

2008 is not too young for a standard, drink-now wine. Also, keep in mind the southern hemisphere runs 6 months ahead of us in terms of harvesting. This is sort of like a 2007.5 in that sense.

Several CT notes seem to mention bell pepper/herbaceousness. Sounds like this could be a good one to train folks on pyrazines. But usually it is not a good sign when a 14.5% ABV wine is very veggie forward. TA is pretty low, too. Though I often like a bit of bell pepper, the low acid, high alc, flabby bell pepper wines end up being a bit weird to me.

TooOldForThis wrote:Seems like high pH and low TA for a cab. And 2008 seems really young. But is it going to be cab-like and drinkable, or as bad as a $9 cab has the potential to be?

I moticed the low acid. So Quite possibly terrible, but then that's a matter of taste. Certainly not an rpm-style subtle sort or lively red fruit wine. Imho Almost certainly a chocolate cedar 'spice box' (We, the Hitchhikers) pencil lead special made for drinking young. If you like that, then given it's a woot it's probably a tasty example of that style.

gcdyersb wrote:Good question! I can get Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo for the same price by the bottle, and it is decent wine. There needs to be some added motivation here besides price.

2008 is not too young for a standard, drink-now wine. Also, keep in mind the southern hemisphere runs 6 months ahead of us in terms of harvesting. This is sort of like a 2007.5 in that sense.

Several CT notes seem to mention bell pepper/herbaceousness. Sounds like this could be a good one to train folks on pyrazines. But usually it is not a good sign when a 14.5% ABV wine is very veggie forward. TA is pretty low, too. Though I often like a bit of bell pepper, the low acid, high alc, flabby bell pepper wines end up being a bit weird to me.

Your posts are still by far the most informed and interesting! Thank you again

This wine is priced at $10.12 at Specs in Houston.

IndigoHills wrote:This wine is priced at $10.12 at Specs in Houston.

Thanks for the heads up. I might grab a bottle to see if I like this.

Good morning, fellow Wine.Wooters!

I'm going to preface this report with two caveats - one for the wine, and the other for myself. This wine arrived on a 15 degree (and I don't mean Celsius) morning. It did get nine hours inside to settle down before opening, but it probably had a rough night on that FedEx truck. As for myself, I like what I like, but I'm not particularly fit to give an educated review (I’m learning from you all though, so someday….). That said, I’ll walk you through the evening this bottle and I shared with my beer-snob SO, and hopefully give you enough to decide if you want to give the Copa a go.

I don’t have an aerator, so I poured myself a glass, took a sip, then very resolutely set it down to breathe. Upon opening, the nose was something I could only describe as “old book.” The mouth-feel was heavier and more puckery than I typically would like (would that be tannins?), and while the taste was not offensive, there was no particular standout flavor. Half an hour later, the both the nose and the flavor had softened quite a bit, and “old book” settled into something distinctly leathery. It had quickly upgraded itself from Tolerable to Passable.

At the one hour mark, the SO arrived home with our dinner of choice on nights when we both work late: crusty bread and stinky cheese, specifically Cambozola and a brie. I also got out some rich Spanish olive oil and a bit of the Aux Delices white truffle butter from its last wine.woot offering. The SO’s pre-food assessment was: “Old leather bench. And wood. But not pine. Hardwood. American oak, maybe? No, black walnut.” He’s not an oenophile, but he is a carpenter, so I trust his palate for wood shavings. The verdict was in: this wine is leathery and woody and a bit musty, but not unpleasantly so. There was also a slight hint of vegetable, but neither of us could quite place our finger on which one - maybe carrot or tomato? - it was just a hint.

Enter the food.

This wine loves robust fatty food. A sip between bites brought out the signature note of each of the aforementioned toppings we so lovingly applied to our bread. The foods became softer and richer with the wine, while the wine itself didn’t beg for attention. We were so enthralled with this transformation that we decided to split the last glass over a dessert of caramelly gjetost cheese and chilli-infused chocolate. Again, the wine loved the cheese, although something terrible happened when it hit the chocolate - we assume the chillies are to blame, so I don’t know that I’d serve this with a spicy meal.

Had this been $49.99 for three bottles, I’d be on the fence, but at under $10 a bottle delivered, this will be a worthy companion to my next cheese board. In for one!

I'm trying to post my lab rat report but am running into technical difficulties because I'm posting from work. Let me see if I can figure out a work around......

With many apologies……

(singing) I never thought my life could be
Anything but wine-tastrophe
But suddenly I begin to see
A bit of free woot wine for me


'Cause I've got a golden wine woot ticket
I've got a golden twinkle in my eye….. (singing ends)

I cannot begin to describe the awesomeness of the moment I checked my e-mail and saw that I had been selected to be a Labrat! Oh my. The giddy heights. The dizzying euphoria. Could it be real? Could it be true? I had to sit down.

Oh. Wait. I was already sitting down. Hmmm….perhaps that acute vertigo isn’t completely gone ….

Bliss. Pure bliss. The frenzied e-mails to my husband, Mr. Spuds. The immediate checking and re-checking of the Fed Ex website. Will the wine be delivered before I leave for the day? What will it be? Red? It has to be a red, right? Oh…the anticipation.

Slowly the full impact begins to dawn on me. Uh oh. I’m actually going to have to drink a bottle of wine I’ve never tried before, take notes, and somehow come up with a Rat report that’s worthy of winewoot. Oh no. I don’t think I can do this. I’m still a young wine drinker. I’m still learning to make friends with red wines without getting migraines. Much biting of the nails ensues. What am I going to do? Why did they pick me? What does “fruit forward” mean? What does “new wolrd” vs “old world” styles mean? How do I learn to taste that in 15 minutes?

Then the full horror sets in. (Gulp) Thursday is sushi night in the Spuds household.

Oh no!!! Maybe it will be a white wine. Maybe it will be something that works with sushi. Maybe. Maybe.

Nervous pacing until the box arrives.

(Melodramatic crescendo music) It’s a 2008 Copa del Rey Cabernet Sauvignon. That’s NOT gonna work with sushi! Much weeping ensues.

When I get home and finally manage to explain to Mr. Spuds that we MUST drink the wine tonight (He was hoping we could enjoy it over the weekend. He had not yet been trained in the ways of the Rat.), my nervousness is at a fever pitch. Will I even be able to open the bottle?

Phew. The bottle opens easily. We immediately poured a little bit into a glass and started the whole gaze, swirl, sniff, sip, rinse, repeat process.

Hmmm….visually it looks like Welch’s grape juice. That’s typically not my first thought about wine. Okay. Moving on. Maybe there’s just too little in the glass to give a sense of the full color.

Sniffing ensues. (My palate doesn’t have a large vocabulary so Mr. Spuds had to help. And the words we use may be the same words that “wine people” use but may mean something different. So I’ll try to offer extended explanations when possible.) Fruity. That’s what I got. I smelled fruit. Mr. Spuds took a try. Cherry jello. Evidently I’m easily suggestible because with that thought in my head I picked up notes of cherry as well.

After the first sip we had two words to describe the wine. Dry and smooth. Now our use of “dry” and “smooth” are probably NOTHING like how any knowledgeable person on winewoot would use them. So here’s what we think when we use those words.

Dry- It left my mouth completely dry. Seriously. As I sipped with wine all moisture left my tongue, the roof of my mouth, everywhere. My mouth was left totally dry. So I’m not sure what real wine-terms should be used to describe that, but we used the word “dry.”

Smooth- It didn’t seem to have the warm-you-all-the-way-down-to-you-toes feel that reds sometimes have for us. It went down smooth. And since I like the warming sensation, that was a little disappointing.

Our first impression was that it was an okay wine. And we were curious to know how it would taste after decanting.

We decanted it and let it breathe for 2 hours.

When we came back it didn’t seem as “dry.” There was still some moisture left on my tongue. And it didn’t seem to hang around very long. It didn’t linger on the palate for any real length of time. (Does that mean it had a short finish?)

Overall we thought it was drinkable. Nothing really exciting, but it was drinkable. (But please, for the love of everything good and holy, don’t drink it WITH sushi!)

In keeping with the Willy Wonka theme, Mr. Spuds said if it had to relate it to a Willy Wonka character he would call this wine Mike TeeVee. It wasn’t very complex like Willy Wonka. It wasn’t full bodied like Gustav. It wasn’t self-centered like Veruka. (Okay….that’s a stretch!) It was just a basic, simple wine. A Mike TeeVee if you will.

So there it is. My first Rat report. Was it okay? Could somebody pass me a glass of that Shnozberry Vino now?

Any red wine that has Chilean in the name is an instant no for me.... I have come to the conclusion that Chilean wines and me are not a good match.

liska wrote:
The verdict was in: this wine is leathery and woody and a bit musty, but not unpleasantly so. There was also a slight hint of vegetable, but neither of us could quite place our finger on which one - maybe carrot or tomato? - it was just a hint.

Love the leathery/musty wines. This makes it hard for the SIWBMWCN (Woot Cellars Notwithstanding)to hold. I think it was some of the Judd's hill that had some of the same characteristics and I thought that was fantastic. Think I'll wait for other reports to see if they report the same.

richardhod wrote:I hear good Chilean wines really are very good, but have not yet tried a quality one myself.

Not true! I fed you one while you were here, but you just didn't notice because it was a restrained, cool-climate, stylistically-loyal Bordeaux blend. And no one associates anything like that with Chile.

The issue with Chilean wine, or at least in my view, is that despite a fair amount of differentiation between the climates in which grapes are grown, there's very little differentiation in labeling. They've only recently started creating individual appellations, and most wines still only identify one of the country's large administrative regions for their provenance, if that (comparatively, it'd be like American wines labeled "California" or "Washington" and not for blending reasons). Within those regions, a vineyard can be way up in the cool mountains or down in a hot valley.

So while Chilean wines can actually come in a multitude of styles, there's not an easy way to differentiate between them. Admittedly, it's more of an excuse than anything (just because a wine is from Carneros, for instance, doesn't necessarily imply a particular style), but combined with the fact that for most, their only exposure to Chilean wine was to ripe, bomby, hot-climate style grocery store pablum, it's very easy to assume that all Chilean wine comes in such a style, which is patently untrue. Most does, though, so it's not a particularly fatal assumption to make. It also probably doesn't help that Jay Miller is responsible for Wine Advocate's Chilean reviews, so everything automatically gets a 90 and the tasting notes all read "durrr...blackcurrant yum!".

I think the comparison to Australia is apt, and without channeling RPM too much, I would argue that Chile is about where Australia probably was twenty or thirty years ago - a relatively new wine country that hasn't had a lot of time to organize itself, develop unique regional styles, or have a real influx of innovative and adventurous winemakers (though they're certainly getting there). And in order to build up street cred, they're flooding the mass market with decent but relatively tame products. There's a lot of potential in Chile, though, and some sublime growing areas that are ripe for the taking (pun, sadly, intended). I think we'll probably see a lot of affordable artisan wines being made there in the next decade.

Is this one of them? Oh, I dunno.

I know Ramsay is on the lower spectrum, and I dont think it would be fair to compare since they are from different regions. But how would they compare?

spuds89 wrote:So there it is. My first Rat report. Was it okay? Could somebody pass me a glass of that Shnozberry Vino now?

Fabulous first rat! I really enjoyed reading your voyage with this wine.

This one's definitely tempting as I've enjoyed many bottles from Hahn and I like Chilean wines. For the buck I think Chile puts out a great wine, and for those curious about Chilean wines I'd suggest checking out the Root 1 wines. Their cab is young and tastes it, but when I've poured it for people I've never had them complain about it and thought it was very good for the age and excellent for the price point (can normally find it for around $10). Their Savi has been a little hit or miss with people when I've pulled it out, but stronger on the hit. It's been a long time since I've pulled a bottle out, and I can't quite remember what people didn't like about it. I really like their chard, which sticks in my mind as having a bit of green apple to it, and their Carmenere is also quite nice.

In for one. The TLC is gone and I need a wine that I "like, not love" for people of similar ilk.

How good is this deal?

Shipping cost is the major factor in this one.

Click the link above for full discount details, links, etc.

I don't know much about wine other than I like most reds I've tried. I haven't met a cab I didn't like and when I include my $10 off coupon from my last wine woot being delayed this comes in at under $8 per bottle.

I don't think I can resist.

spuds89 wrote:After the first sip we had two words to describe the wine. Dry and smooth. Now our use of “dry” and “smooth” are probably NOTHING like how any knowledgeable person on winewoot would use them. So here’s what we think when we use those words.

Dry- It left my mouth completely dry. Seriously. As I sipped with wine all moisture left my tongue, the roof of my mouth, everywhere. My mouth was left totally dry. So I’m not sure what real wine-terms should be used to describe that, but we used the word “dry.”

Smooth- It didn’t seem to have the warm-you-all-the-way-down-to-you-toes feel that reds sometimes have for us. It went down smooth. And since I like the warming sensation, that was a little disappointing.

Let's see if I can translate that for you

In wine terms, you've got smooth right on. But "dryness" is actually a sweetness factor (determined by the residual sugar [RS]). A wine is "dry" or "sweet" (or something in between).

What you are experiencing for what you call "dry" is a fascinating little thing called tannin. Tannin makes your mouth feel cottony or chalky, like someone just took a cotton swab and sucked all the moisture out of your mouth. They are generally tamed by time, either in the bottle, in the glass, or in a decanter. Some people really enjoy tannins and go looking for that super-mouth-puckering-punch that they can deliver. They usually end up with purple teeth, purple tongues, and purple lips.

So, this wine is tannic and needs some time to calm down and get some air. Good to know that it DID calm down with some airtime - sometimes that doesn't happen, and then the wine is just off balance.

Excellent report, spuds!!

So far no mentions of excessive herbaceousness from the Rats. Very promising, especially with mentions of leather. A good leathery Cab is a favorite. It's actually pretty rare to get outside the fruit/veggie/oak spectrum under $10, so if there's some additional complexity, that is good news indeed.

Two great Rats! Thank you both!

Fermented Reviews grades it C+. Says it is just drinkable.

liska wrote:

spuds89 wrote:Rat Report #2

What's interesting is that both of you expressed some trepidation about your qualifications to Labrat, and then both did a really excellent job.

Thank you! I think we all have a real idea about this wine now.


To liska - it sounds as if there was no sign of freezing, correct? 15 deg outside does not mean 15 deg inside the bottle, but that's well below the danger line, and sounds scary to me.

See what happens when I sleep late, I get 36 comments to read through before I head to the office. Things are moving fast today.

Morning all, I'm still Josh Cairns from Hahn Family Wines, back for another day or three of Wooting. We'll start to get your questions answered and hopefully pull some of the sitters off the fence into the "in for 1/2/3" side.

Just a couple of quick comments. This wine is Chilean, no shock so far, and was produced and bottled at a facility down there. However, Juan Ho and Barry spent a number of months down in Chile before the bottling working with their crew to make sure you are getting Chilean value with Hahn quality (if you like Hahn, that is a good thing).

Also, I'm very much hoping that pierrec is simply a fan, because if I discover that they are actually one of my people, someone is going to get a talking to. We don't play that way.

More oenological answers after the break ... and coffee.

RoosterBooster wrote:See what happens when I sleep late, I get 36 comments to read through before I head to the office. Things are moving fast today.

Morning all, I'm still Josh Cairns from Hahn Family Wines, back for another day or three of Wooting. We'll start to get your questions answered and hopefully pull some of the sitters off the fence into the "in for 1/2/3" side.

Just a couple of quick comments. This wine is Chilean, no shock so far, and was produced and bottled at a facility down there. However, Juan Ho and Barry spent a number of months down in Chile before the bottling working with their crew to make sure you are getting Chilean value with Hahn quality (if you like Hahn, that is a good thing).

Also, I'm very much hoping that pierrec is simply a fan, because if I discover that they are actually one of my people, someone is going to get a talking to. We don't play that way.

More oenological answers after the break ... and coffee.

Welcome, I look forward to some insight and input from the winery.

RoosterBooster wrote:More oenological answers after the break ... and coffee.

What's the stylistic aim here? The price point and ripeness levels seem to point to a wine that is ready to go off the shelf. But one of the Labrats noted drying tannins, which isn't something I'd expect from a drink now sort of wine.

NightGhost wrote:
To liska - it sounds as if there was no sign of freezing, correct? 15 deg outside does not mean 15 deg inside the bottle, but that's well below the danger line, and sounds scary to me.

I don't think the juice itself froze, though I'm not sure what that would do to a wine to know for sure. It was definitely cold, but still very much liquid with no crystals or sludginess at 11:00am when it arrived. I can't imagine that if it had been frozen at any point over night that it would have thawed that soon, still in the back of the cold truck.

liska wrote:I don't think the juice itself froze, though I'm not sure what that would do to a wine to know for sure. It was definitely cold, but still very much liquid with no crystals or sludginess at 11:00am when it arrived. I can't imagine that if it had been frozen at any point over night that it would have thawed that soon, still in the back of the cold truck.

For what it's worth, I've accidentally frozen wine before (put a half-full bottle in the freezer to cool and forgot about it) with no ill effects upon thawing. In fact, it seemed to mellow it out a bit (it was a somewhat-too-young Pinot). I don't know what would happen if a full, corked bottle froze, though (I imagine the cork would at least push out a little). You probably wouldn't want to try aging it after that, but I don't think it would significantly affect the immediate quality of the stuff.

Moved from France and although I miss home grown wines, wanted to share the wines I´ve experienced since being here. Obviously our wines are more earthy and we get limited amount of wines from foreign regions.-

Joined through facebook and glad to now I have access to all these wines from now on.
au revoir

(facepalm)

I clicked on Cesare's winery link, and didn't even think to check the "winery details" section of the item page.

Hahn Family Vineyards was here in August.


Josh - can you give us the percentage of new oak?