Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of spices, flower petal, mint and currants. Full body with round tannins and a pretty blackberry, walnut and sweet tobacco aftertaste. Aged one year in 60% new French oak barrels. Drink now.
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Wine & Spirits
Here's an honest, lively take on carmenere, without the herbal scents that often mark the variety. Pure ripe red fruit, with soft touches of spice, waits to be uncorked with a plate of charcuterie.
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.