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Falernia Wines

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Falernia 2005 Reserva Syrah (Elqui Valley)

Best Buy

Price $13

Floral and mineral aromas tell you this isn’t run of the mill, and seeing that it’s from the emerging Elqui Valley in northern Chile, it’s not. Aromas of violet petals and slate rise above the norm, while the palate is rich, slick and tastes of truffle, licorice, pepper and blackberry. Fairly stylish and ready to drink now. Good complexity for a value-priced wine. — M.S. (7/1/2009)

Falernia 2009 Reserva Sauvignon Blanc (Elqui Valley)

Best Buy

Price $11

Three years running, this wine has been getting better. It shows textbook Elqui aromas of jalapeno peppers and gooseberry, while the flavors are a little tropical due to pineapple notes. On the back end it reverts toward minerally green fruit, jalapeno and white pepper dust. Good wine; not vegetal. — M.S. (3/1/2010)

Falernia 2006 Reserva Syrah (Elqui Valley)

Best Buy

Price $12

Savory, minty, foresty and showing its own style and personality. Not a generic Syrah; there’s leather, fir tree and berry aromas, and then a large, mouthfilling palate full of savory, herbal berry flavors accented by oak and BBQ notes. Hard to peg as varietal Syrah but definitely a good wine with character. — M.S. (12/31/2009)

Falernia 2007 Reserva Carmenère (Elqui Valley)

Online Exclusive

Price $14

Made in a mild ripasso style, this wine is miserly on the nose and hot on the finish, but what comes in between is very nice. Sweet flavors of brandied cherries, plum and chocolate blend with spice and pepper accents as it rolls forcefully across the palate. As said, it burns late, something that may resolve with bottle age. Drink now through 2011. — M.S. (3/1/2010)

Falernia 2009 Reserva Pedro Ximénez (Elqui Valley)

Best Buy

Price $9

A cool, neutral wine that smells as much like mountain stream water as it does white fruits. Flavors of green apple and underripe nectarine are dry, clean, quiet and refreshing. Shows a mild almond-skin bitterness on the finish, but overall it’s much like a good Viura from Rioja, Spain. — M.S. (3/1/2010)

Falernia 2008 Reserva Sauvignon Blanc (Elqui Valley)

Best Buy
Online Exclusive

Price $10

A bit of canned green bean/asparagus works the nose, but these aromas are not overbearing or so vegetal as to mask the wine’s green fruit character. Flavors of orange and lime are solid, wet and refreshing, while the finish is citric. A step up from the funky, disjointed 2007 SB. — M.S. (12/31/2009)

Falernia 2006 Reserva Carmenère-Syrah (Elqui Valley)

Best Buy
Online Exclusive

Price $10

A little baked, warm and medicinal, but also an interesting and unique tasting wine. There’s a beefy, gummy weight to the palate, but also flavors of blackberry, herbs, soy sauce and brown sugar. Shows good points but rates out as a strange wine that confounds as much as it inspires. — M.S. (3/1/2010)

Falernia 2008 Reserva Pedro Ximénez (Elqui Valley)

Best Buy

Price $9

Dusty apple, pear and other dry-fruit aromas give this clean wine a good but basic starting point. The palate is fresh but exceedingly simple in terms of its apple, kiwi and nectarine flavors. Pithy and bitter on the finish, but fresh. Tastes and smells like a standard white Rioja. — M.S. (3/1/2010)

Prominent Designations

Reserva

Most Reviewed Varietals [All]

Other Red Red Blend Sauvignon Blanc Sherry Shiraz/Syrah

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