It's good to shake up your conceptions once in a while. This Chilean Pinot Noir is delicious and yet utterly unlike any Pinot Noir we’ve ever had before, reminding us more of a Jura Trousseau than a Burgundy. (For you wine nerds, this would be a fun wine to blind and torture your friends on.) While the wines of Chile may seem relatively new to us Americans who can remember a time before their ubiquity on our shelves, Chilean wine has been in continuous production since the 1550s. In that context, then, the Casablanca Valley, first planted in the 1980s, is a very recent addition to its stable of winegrowing regions and the world of wine. Located about an hour by car west of Santiago, it is rated as a 1 on the Winkler Scale, the coldest, despite its fairly close proximity to the equator (equivalent to North Africa in the North), thanks to the cooling influence of the Humboldt current that runs northward along Chile’s west coast, and the transverse orientation of the valley, making it a perfect climatic partner for Pinot Noir. While the climate may be similar to Burgundy, the sandy and decomposed granite soils rich in iron are not and winemaker Angel Marchant previously worked at Flowers winery in Sonoma, so he knows how to let the terroir speak. Begun in 1998, Root:1 makes only estate grown wines and the winery was the first in Chile to be certified 100% sustainable by Wines of Chile. This wine is fermented and aged in both French oak barrels as well as stainless steel tanks. Flavors of passion fruit, raspberry, wild strawberry and lavender. Long on the palate with good acidity and silky tannins. Would be perfect with barbecued chicken or grilled fish, or on its own. Benefits from a good chill.