There’s been a bit of a theme in my staff selections lately: rediscovering the reasons I got into wine in the first place. I’m making a point to enjoy wine again after too many years of focusing on taking exams rooted in Old World traditions that would have, quite frankly, encouraged me to ignore this wine because it wasn’t “testable.” I gave myself one requirement: it has to be an enjoy-it-anywhere summer wine, good for a patio, a night of grilling, a bonfire, or just relaxing after doing yard work that had been put off too long. This pushed it into rose or red, but not a big red since those aren’t refreshing to me on a hot day. Then came this new arrival to the store, a wine literally called “sabbatical”. Sabático is a blend from 100 year-old own-rooted vines that takes two varieties that are joined at the hip nearly everywhere they’re found – Grenache and Carignan – and combines them in a series of used barrels, amphora and stainless steel to preserve freshness of the Grenache but smooth out the sometimes coarse finish of Carignan. Indigenous yeasts, minimal filtration and manipulation from dry-farmed vineyards in the new DO San Javier, nestled between the coastal range and the Andes mountains outside Santiago, resurrect a style of wine that more accurately reflects the traditions of the region than the mass-produced single-variety wine Chile has unfortunately become ubiquitous for. Ripe raspberries, pomegranate, herbs and cracked pepper come across whether served at room temperature or chilled…or somewhere in between, which is how I’ll be having it. Enjoy! 121627