Winemaker Notes
The wine displays a deep carmine-red color. On the nose, it offers a complex bouquet with pronounced aromas of ripe red and black fruits, including plum, fig, and cherry syrup. Subtle toasted notes from French oak are complemented by hints of vanilla, sweet spices, and dried fruits. The palate is soft and rounded, with generous body and a smooth, well-integrated structure.
Highly recommended with red meats, Mongolian beef, pork chops, spaghetti Bolognese, lamb chops, or mushroom ravioli.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Alpha Carmenère is a highlight in the Alpha range, successfully fusing a confidently oak-driven profile with the variety's herbal and spice-driven nature. Graphite, sweet tobacco and dried herb aromas introduce a lush, creamy, polished palate that maintains admirable focus as it concludes with a balanced, open-knit finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Notes of peppercorn and aromatic herbs shape the nose, leading to a rich mix of wood spice, blackberries and blueberries on the full-bodied palate. Fresh, savory, and with a touch of rosemary, this type of Carménère is hard to find at this price point.
Best Buy -
Wine Spectator
Offers an elegant entry of plumeria and bergamot, with broad minerality to the midpalate, which is layered with plum paste, blackberry and peppercorn flavors that offer nice length around refined tannins.
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.