Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Alpha Carmenere contains 10% Cabernet Sauvignon in its makeup. The fruit was sourced from a cool micro-climate near the Pacific Ocean which provides the long growing season Carmenere seems to require. It was aged for 12 months in a mix of new and used French oak before bottling without filtration. It offers up a brooding bouquet of wood smoke, herbs, spices, incense, violets, and assorted black fruits. This is followed by a rich, savory, incipiently complex wine that will benefit from another 2-3 years of bottle age. Drink this tasty effort from 2013 to 2021.
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.