Description

Description

Carmènere originally from Bordeaux is now only grown in Chile to great effect. Plummy with chocolate and spice this is a soft and delicious quaffing red. Drink on its own or with a good burger.

Grape

Carmenère is a grape originally from Bordeaux, but now grown almost exclusively in Chile, where it produces deeply coloured wines of medium weight with plum, herbaceous, earth and smoke character.

Producer

Luca Hodgkinson and Jose Miguel Sotomayor are the Wildmakers, who consult for many wineries in Chile and have their own business sourcing grapes from sustainable and in many cases organic vineyards. They specialise in pure wines that eschew chemicals wherever possible.

Region

Colchagua Valley, in central Chile, is one of South America’s most promising wine regions. It forms the south-western half of the larger Rapel Valley region; to the north and east of it lies the less famous but equally promising Cachapoal Valley. Some of Chile’s finest red wines are made in the valley, mostly from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère and Syrah. The Colchagua Valley boasts a textbook wine-growing climate: warm, but cooled by ocean breezes and dry, but refreshed by rivers and occasional rainfall.

Food Pairing

Chilean Carmènere is often very ripe so low in acidity. Dishes need to be robust so a casserole with Provence herbs or a lamb curry could be a decent match.