Anakena - Ona

Price: $13.99
Region: Chile
Year: 2008

First, I know the picture is a bit small, but it is the best one I could find. Second, I can't believe I'm actually reviewing a white wine. I'm sure there are lots of people who comes across my blog, who probably think I don't know what I'm talking about, but wait until they see me trying to review a white wine. I actually had a couple different bottles of wine this past weekend, and I hope to get to one in particular, but I just thought it was about time to throw another white into the mix. Usually, if I have a white wine, it ends up being the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend. This is on my list of top 5 default wines, and my wife likes it so much we usually pick up a bottle each week. This past weekend was a bit odd in that we were out running errands together, and decided to stop at the wine store. As is typical, my wife picked up a bottle of Pine Ridge, and then asked one of the store employees about a white Chilean wine we had tried at the wine tasting the week before last. They didn't have that particular wine, but picked up this bottle of Anakena Ona, and suggested we give it a try. So, we put it in the basket, grabbed a couple of other things as well, and headed home.

This particular bottle of wine was a Viognier, Riesling, and Chardonnay blend. It is fairly obvious from going through my previous posts, they I'm not a big white wine fan. There are a few I enjoy, and especially with a certain type of food, but given the choice, I'll pick the red every time. One of the major reasons is I just am not a big fan of Chardonnay. This blend kind of intrigued me because of the variations in the grapes. My generalization on white wines is that Riesling is sweet, Viognier is in the middle, and Chardonnay is dry. I know that is a far from always the truth, but assumptions are made lots of time because they start with a grain of truth. Anyway, we opened this bottle to have with some appetizers at Sunday dinner. While I tend to focus a lot on the different shades of red wine, I'm not as picky with white. I will say, this had a nice golden color, and definitely wasn't pale. It also had a nice smell that reminded me a bit of cut flowers. So, at this point, I wasn't sure what to expect, but when I took a sip, it had a nice crisp flavor, that wasn't overpowering, with a bit of pear flavor. I would say the Viognier kind of rounded out the bite of the Chardonnay. I could still taste what I would call the dryness of the Chardonnay, but it wasn't the overriding flavor, and in the end, I thought it wasn't half bad. For me to say that of any wine composed of Chardonnay is a step in the right direction. I did however, quickly open a bottle of Malbec after one glass.

Rating: 3.0 corks (Not a bad white)