Winemaker Notes
With an expressive nose containing hints of laurel, spicy clove and a pleasant note of rosemary, this wine also exudes a layer of deep red fruits. On the palate, it's fresh, with sweet tannins and a full-bodied flavor that ends in a lovely, lingering finish.
Blend: 92% Carménère, 4% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A well-made, reductive carmenere showing plenty of roasted red peppers, herbs, dark olives and spices. Pretty fruity with fresh strawberries and silky tannins. More upfront but fresh and polished.
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Vinous
The 2020 Carménère Gran Reserva is a blend of 92% Carménère, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot from Palmilla, Colchagua. It was aged for 12 months in French barrels. Purple in color. The nose presents faint roasted jalapeño notes and ash over a bed of blackberry and bay leaf. Creamy and broad, the excellent volume is sculpted by juicy, finely grained tannins. A balanced wine in spite of the warm year.
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.