For PengWine this is a big step up in class. Royal is an ultrapremium blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cab Franc, aged in new oak and showing all the signs of an elevated red wine. It’s ripe and sweet, with caramel, carob and espresso sitting alongside roasted berry flavors. Balanced, generous and ready to go. Drink now through 2010. Imported by PengWine.
— M.S.
(5/1/2009)
This wine boasts boutique roots in the Maipo Valley, but the label doesn’t tell us what roots exactly. In the glass, look for angular aromas and spice more than discernible fruit, followed by cherry and cola flavors that end in menthol and chocolate. Quite big and sweet; has its good as well as strange moments. Imported by American Wine Distributors.
— M.S.
(10/1/2006)
A little herbal and olive-filled from front to back, but with offsetting berry and sweet spice characteristics. The wine features decent dark-fruit flavors and milk chocolate on the finish, but along the way a strong and persistent shock of green drives the wine into a corner it can’t escape from. Cabernet with 15% Carmenère.
— M.S.
(5/1/2007)
Herbal and spicy, with leafy, red-fruit aromas. The palate is weighty, with vanilla and brown sugar flavors along with ample oak. Shows good snap and pop once it opens. Imported by American Wine Distributors.
— M.S.
(11/1/2005)
Burnt and leathery on the nose, with basic olive, saline, cherry and plum flavors. Gritty and tannic, with some green qualities. Seems like a wine you’ve encountered many times before. Imported by American Wine Distributors.
— M.S.
(11/1/2005)
Given the pricing of Chilean Cabernet, this one is of questionable value. The nose is pickled and roasted at first but settles with time. Not bad in terms of mouthfeel, but the wines’s raisin, pickle and roasted berry flavors don’t really mesh, and overall it lacks a middle layer and dynamism on the finish.
— M.S.
(7/1/2009)
The nose mixes tropical fruit, banana and also some sharp nettle. Orange, tangerine and grapefruit flavors are only basically convincing, while more citrus runs wild on the untamed finish. Sort of sweet but also kind of sour.
— M.S.
(10/1/2006)