Veo Ultima Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Colchagua Valley Chile
September 16th, 2007 by 
robert
Upscale Chilean Cab Not Much Different Than Jr.
We found this “Reserve” cab at Sam’s Club yesterday and hamburgers on the grill tonight seemed appropriate for a swirl. We liked their Veo Grande (especially for $8.99 at Sam’s) but at times the herbal/green pepper interfered a tad. We figured that their ULTIMA reserve version (for $12.99) would be much better. Well, we decanted it for about 45 minutes with vigorous aeration as recommended on the label (it was rough straight out of the bottle.) Pretty purple hue but lots of herbs on the nose (I know some might love that, but we aren’t big fans.) Nice, smooth tannins with very bright red berry on the palate (not much herbal, though.) What zippy acidity - nice with the burgers and probably nicer with a juicy steak. On the other hand, it seemed quite thin and watery. Pretty good hooch, but (in our humble opinions) not worth the extra 4 bucks (and the extra hard work in the vineyards hand picking individual bunches of grapes for the mere 4000 cases of this made.) Good, but we’ll stick to the Veo Grande version a few times a year. We missed the richness and complexity of our favorite value to midpriced cabs ($10-$15) mainly from California.
Grade: B-
Posted in winespeak | 
February 14th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I’ll assume the previous vintage was 2005. We had another bottle this evening (thank you Pat and John!) Worked quite well with steak stir fry and brown rice. Delightfully bright red berry with a hint of licorice, this stuff is GOOD! Wonderfully understated, it let the food shine through and was a great addition to the meal. Smooth tannins and a medium “zippy” finish (acidity, I mean.) A nice experience for the $9 price.
Grade: B+