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Mission Codename: The King of Maipo

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Return to Operative favorite, Chilean producer Pengwine, and retrieve their King – a big red blend that the winery is nearly sold out of

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Pengwine

Wine Subject: 2005 King

Winemaker: Chris Millikan and Max Eyzaguirre

Backgrounder: Long-term Operatives will recognize today’s target. PengWine Winery of Maipo Valley in Chile was a big hit when we featured them here, and today we are proud to be featuring their flagship wine, the King. If the Maipo Valley is called “the king of red wine production” in Chile, today’s wine could be called the king of kings. With only 300 cases produced, and only a handful of cases remaining, the winery was kind enough allocate a handful of cases of the King for our Operatives to enjoy. Read Agent Reds tasting notes and corresponding Mission Report, below

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Dark garnet in color with great concentration of color right out the the wines to its edges. The wine shows perfect near-perfect through its deeper heart. On swirling, the wine appears bouncy and it settles quickly, leaving behind skinny and widely-spaced legs

Smell – Lush layers of dark fruit, earth, smoky meats, green pepper and blackberry bramble. This wine drives big and fragrant fruits of black currant, blackberry, burnt blueberry cobbler and black cherry. Follow-on earthen components include sweetwood, cigar box, subtle mushroom and stems.

Feel – Medium round and smooth at first, the wine moves fast across the front-palate settles in all around the mouth, gripping the tip of the tongue at first, and then the edges and rear and, finally, the inside of the cheeks.

Taste – Deep and dusky, this wine leads with flavors that almost perfectly mimic the aromas. Add to these tastes additional flavors of medium toasted oak, softest cocoa and tart cherry candy

Finish – This wine coats the mouth, leaving behind a slightly dryfeel, with flavors that tail off sweet then slightly more tart and dry

Conclusion – I love wines from PengWine. The extraction and flavor found in their wines are part Chilean characteristic and part signature PengWine. This wine, which contains an even split of Carménère and Malbec, is a boastful wine that makes a great pairing partner with richer meats and heartier dining fare. Once again, we are impressed by PengWine and we are very pleased to be able to bring you the final remaining cases of this, their flagship wine. Like other big PengWine offerings, today’s wine is a big and boastful one that delivers a rich drinking experience without overpowering your palate.

Mission Report:

US/Chilean Pengwine Wines was conducting a winetasting at the bottom of the world, and I tagged along. It turned out to be an adventure.

Posing as a wine writer for a prestigious wine magazine, I was able to secure my cargo plane seat on this first-ever Antarctic wine event.

As I sat in the plane, I watched out the window as the airport workers clumsily loaded luggage and wine crates onto the planes loading ramp. After I saw my own luggage spill off the cart and onto the tarmac, I had visions of the wine crates suffering the same fate. Shortly thereafter, they did. Spilled wine made dark circles on the black pavement.

I dashed out of the plane with the winemaker and ran to save the wine. Many of the bottles were broken, but we managed to repack the remaining wine and load it safely onto the plane. After the winemaker conducted a few harried-sounding calls, he decided that he had enough wine for the expedition and that the trip was still on.

Two bumpy flights and a refueling stop later, we were out over some of the clearest water I had ever seen. The day was crystal clear and I could feel the excitement of the expedition members mounting.

The landing was flawless and the wine survived the trip intact.

We were greeted by airfield personnel (a single person) who accompanied us on our quest to find the natives. With wine bottles secured inside of parkas, we simply picked a direction and started walking. A short while later, a few dozen natives in sight, we stopped, opened bottles, poured and raised our glasses in a salute – to the penguins… Those on the glacier and those on the labels!

To learn more about this expedition, book a National Geographic cruise through the Antarctic – where Pengwine is an official selection aboard the ship.

Wine Spies Spy Photo:

The bottom of the world, where this wine tasting actually, honestly, truly, really did take place, can be seen in this satellite photo.

And, the lush farms, orchards and vineyards of the beautiful Maipo Valley can be seen in this satellite photo.