Winemaker Notes
The nose opens on ripe blackberry fruit aromas, joined on airing by notes of roasted coffee beans and black pepper. From a highly expressive attack on the black fruit found on the nose, the peppery notes that emerged with airing return on a midpalate which combines power with heft. The finish lingers on an intense array of black fruit, spice, and roasted coffee bean flavors.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Some black beans, olives and fennel spice to the blackcurrants. Juicy, medium- to full-bodied, with a fleshy mid-palate, fine-grained tannins and a fresh finish. Pretty fruit in the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Compact and savory, this version slowly reveals dusky rose petal and mineral accents built on a structured core of black cherry and plum. Finishes with precise tannins and nice length. Best after 2026.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2022 Escudo Rojo Grand Reserva Carmenère is an authentic wine. This wine shows aromas and flavors of savory spices, intense chalkiness, and rustic earth. Try it with Thai Basil Lamb. (Tasted: October 28, 2024, San Francisco, CA)
Dark, full-bodied and herbaceous with a spicy kick, Carménère found great success with its move to Chile in the mid-19th century. However, the variety went a bit undercover until 1994 when many plantings previously thought to be Merlot, were profiled as Carménère. Somm Secret— Carménère is both a progeny and a great-grandchild of the similarly flavored Cabernet Franc.
Well-regarded for intense and exceptionally high quality red wines, the Colchagua Valley is situated in the southern part of Chile’s Rapel Valley, with many of the best vineyards lying in the foothills of the Coastal Range.
Heavy French investment and cutting-edge technology in both the vineyard and the winery has been a boon to the local viticultural industry, which already laid claim to ancient vines and a textbook Mediterranean climate.
The warm, dry growing season in the Colchagua Valley favors robust reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Malbec and Syrah—in fact, some of Chile’s very best are made here. A small amount of good white wine is produced from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.