Keeping the name of the blog alive, I have come back from the splendors of the southern hemisphere to my stomping ground of Boston. The plan – get more involved in the local wine scene, as well as find an engineering job in alternative energies.
And although the blog is about following summer, we all need to have a bottle of red ready for cool rainy days like today. Today I drank a varietal perfect for such a day – Carménère. If you’re not familiar with it, Carménère is pretty much wine speak for Chile. The roots of this unique varietal, like most, are from France. Originally (and still listed) as one of the six noble Bordeaux varietals, Carménère was brought to Chile during the infancy of the country’s wine growth. While Phylloxera wiped out all traces of the varietal in France, the plantings in Chile were misinterpreted as Merlot. And so, for decades Chile bottled plenty of Merlot that just didn’t quite taste like Merlot. After some genetic testing, Chile learned that they had some plantings of a nearly extinct varietal, and a wonderful marketing tool.
I absolutely fell in love with this wine during a ski trip to Chile, and I personally like to think of Carménère as a “dirty Merlot” – and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Not to say I would ever pass up a glass of Merlot, but I’ve always found it to be a wine that is tasty and fruity…but missing something. And that is EXACTLY where the flagship Chilean wine picks up. Imagine the fruit & plum of a Merlot, with mouthfuls of spice, smoke, and earth. That, my friends, is what Carménère is all about.
If you can find it here (I got it in Atlanta), I highly suggest trying to find . For about 7 bucks a bottle, you couldn’t get a better idea what this grape is all about. Its got plenty of light fruit, matched with powerful spice and smoke, but the tannins are light enough that you could swing drinking it at a summer BBQ – so long as you’re chillin’ in the shade.
If you can’t find that example, Concha y Torro, Montes, Anakena, and Cono Sur are all great value wineries with a range of labels. I think this grape blends perfectly with Cabernet Sauvignon, as it brings some earthy complexity to the table. Many of the labels above do blends as well, so the next time you go to your favorite wine shop, cruise the Chilean section to see what they have to offer.
Salud!
