Panilonco Camernère

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

Bored with cabs? Too impatient for pinots? If you’re not into whites and won’t touch merlots thanks to Paul Giamatti’s anti-merlot outburst in Sideways, all is not lost. Next time you’re at Trader Joe’s stocking up on bargain Brie and frozen edamame, pick up a bottle of Panilonco Camernère. A gold-medal winner at the 2007 Catador Grand Hyatt Wine Awards, this Chilean varietal offers hints of blackberry, mint, and vanilla that coalesce in a silky-tannin wonderland of deep red that’s lighter than your average California cab, but far superior when it comes to achieving a delicate $3.99-balance we can all appreciate (what with the rising cost of food and gas peaking at $130 a barrel). Sure, it might be twice as much as that bottle of two-buck Chuck you normally grab upon checkout, but this isn’t about cooking wines. It’s about stirring up your glass—doing the hip oxygenating-thing—and getting your nose in there like you’ve been to the Wine Country on Redondo for a weekend tasting, all before treating yourself to another velvety flood of Chilean nuance. And it ends in the sweetest of notes as it creeps across the back of your palate one bud at a time. Two glasses will suffice, and pair well with something Italian, but if you’re like me you’ll ring Chen’s for some potstickers, pop in Big Trouble in Little China as you fill your third glass and soak up the rare treat that is the Chinese-Chilean-American triad on a Monday night.

AVAILABLE AT TRADER JOE’S 2222 N BELLFLOWER BLVD | LONG BEACH 90815 | 562.596.2514

Tags: chile, Long Beach, panilonco camernere, trader joe's, wine