Calina Reserva 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon

I like wine. I truly, truly like wine. Unless a wine is execrable in every way, I firmly believe that there's a little bit of joy in every bottle.

Today's offering is a 2006 Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon from Calina Reserva. It advertises itself as possessing "concentrated ripe fruit, dark cherry and peppery flavors," with "smooth tannins and a long finish."

The wine was a touch tight when I removed the cork, so I used my Vinturi to open up a glass, assuming I could decant the rest or simply let it breathe in the bottle. Introducing aeration via the Vinturi, however, brought a number of unsatisfying notes to the fore.

To be fair to the wine, I waited an hour before my second glass. I decanted a portion, and allowed the rest to breathe in the bottle. Unfortunately, like a number of relationships, time and familiarity did not improve the situation.

In all honesty, it's not a bad wine, it's simply not a good one.

The tannins are agreeably soft, and the wine is not noticeably astringent; however, when I think of a Cabernet, I think of rich, chewy tannins, and a luxurious sweep of flavour across my tongue, and this doesn't meet that mark. The finish is smooth and lingers a bit, but it doesn't make itself known much beyond the quarter-minute mark. There is a touch of swift-fading peppery heat and a faint hint of chalk at first sip, but both are severely overpowered by the sweetness of the wine. As to the nose, it's primarily boysenberry and pine: very fruity, but it has an aroma reminiscent of breakfast syrup. The colour is gorgeous -- it looks like crushed burgundy velvet -- but there are no legs to speak of.

Calina usually does a decent job of blending its sourced grapes, but in this case, I find the wine to be a bit too flabby, and a bit too sweet. It's drinkable, yes, but it's also eminently forgettable.