New Wine Recommendations: Carmenere, Chile’s Best Red Wine?
If you love big, bold reds, and are stuck
on wines like French Cabernet, Merlot, or South American Malbec, I’ve got something
here I think you’ll want to know about. It’s big, bold, and red… and it’s
both French – and South American. This is Carmenere. Carmenere is possibly the coolest French
red grape and wine you’ve never heard of – but may have already tasted. You see, it’s
indigenous to the Bordeaux region of France, and for centuries, it’s been blended into
their wines without any callout or fanfare. Carmenere is actually related to Cabernet
Franc, and was used predominantly in Bordeaux during the 18th century to
make some great wines. Unfortunately, the grape fell out of favor in France
because it was susceptible to disease. Fortunately, it found a new home in
South America.
In the 19th century, Chile had a burgeoning wealthy class,
people who were becoming enlightened to the larger world and demanding finer
things, including high quality wine. Several influential politicians and barons
of the time invited French winemakers to bring their knowledge, and their grapes
to the new world to set up shop in Chile, where they could help put the recently liberated
country on the map for commerce and trade. The French winemakers brought
their grapes with them, including the castaway Carmenere.
Today, this grape represents about 25,000 acres in Chile, mostly grown in the central
valley region around the capitol of Santiago. What does Carmenere taste like? The wine is notoriously deep in color and
full-bodied (show ABV). Wine expert Janice Robinson describes it as “having the charm of
a Merlot with the Structure of a Cabernet.” I find it to be fairly tannic, with some
grippiness on the tongue and teeth. You get a red currant tang, cherry and berries, and there’s
almost always a green pepper note to some extent, which comes from a chemical compound that’s
present in both Cabernet and Merlot too.
The less expensive versions will be a
little more simple and one-dimensional but the elevated versions more
complex with oak aging, vanilla, leather, tobacco, and all of those hallmark
notes you can find in the best Bordeaux. And much like good Bordeaux, a good Carmenere can
age for a long time too, up to a decade or more. As you might surmise, a wine like
this is excellent with red meats, especially grilled. As you may know,
grilling is a national pastime in South America. You can also pair it
with tomato-based stews and roasts. The grape can be found to a lesser extent
in Italy, California and even China. But Chile is really the home
to the best quality these days.
As far as price, Carmenere can be all over
the board. For a relatively affordable everyday version you’ll pay around $10. I would
suggest you go a little higher than that though. A nicer, age worthy bottle will run you
around $20 – 25 which is what we have here. So there it is….
