Tag Archives: Carmenere

‘Desperately seeking’ $10 wines leads intrepid blogger to Chile’s Carménère

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In our “desperately seeking $10 wine values” category: I recently latched on to a Sierra Cruz Carménère 2007 from Chile’s Maule Valley.

The rich, red color prefigures its dark earthy, leather flavors.

And some pepper thrown in.

But don’t be afraid!

It’s dry yet not at all biting. A real nice balance.

Imagine: For ten bucks, a wine known as the “lost grape of Bordeaux” — the history of this grape alone makes it a worthwhile buy.

Once a kind of second-cousin to Chile’s Merlot production, Carménère is becoming more appreciated, as this backgrounder points out.

I certainly am appreciating it (as I take another sip).

For some other $10 values, I turned to Wine News, which just happens to be serving up its latest reviews of 100 blind-tasted wines.

Right beneath its “Tasters Choice” selections, ranging from $65 to $100, are the all-important “Best Value” listings. And among them are two $10 picks (and as the wine gods would have it, they’re both Chilean):

  • Veramonte, 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva, Colchagua Valley
  • Veramonte, 2006 Chardonnay Reserva, Casablanca Valley

Now that I’m thinking of it, let me see if I can Google an appropriate trip to Chile …

Want to find a perfectly priced bottle of wine? Give the Smarter Wine Search a try.

Latest Web wine buzz — from Spanish excellence to Bordeaux bargains

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Tune in to what top wine bloggers and experts are decanting into cyberspace with handpicked highlights of their latest and greatest, ranging from “emerging excellence” from Spain and an un-frugal selection for the wine-lover in your life to Bordeaux strategies and South American bargains.

“Emerging excellence” is the theme of the latest column by Michael Franz at Wine Review Online — and decent prices might be a sub-theme — for what he calls remarkable wines from three Spanish areas.

Thirteen wines are listed, ranging from $12 to $30, and most are seen as terrific values, “balanced and packed with deep, satisfying flavors.”

There’s little doubt that Spain, of all the countries in Europe, is sending us the best bargains in red wine … The only bad news to be reported is that availability in North America is spotty from market to market … So, you may need to do a bit of searching to try these wines, but I believe they are well worth the search.

Warning: Utterly forget the Wine News Review fairly frugal affordability index with this item.

For Dorothy J. Gaiter And John Brecher at The Wall Street Journal, it’s that pre-holiday time of year when they like to recommend “one break-the-bank, you-shouldn’t-have bottle for the wine-lover in your life.”

This time around it’s the “lusty” Penfolds Grange, made from Shiraz and occasionally some Cabernet Sauvignon. They tasted 10 vintages, going back to 1971, and were blown away.

We have been writing this column for almost a decade now and have been drinking and studying wine for 35 years, but we have never had such a consistently exciting tasting. We expected to enjoy these wines, but we never would have guessed that five of the 10 wines would rate Delicious or higher.

Even the cost of Grange seems incredibly modest compared with Bordeaux prices, which as Joseph Ward at The Washington Post observes, have “gone mad.” Like, $8,000 for a case of wine?!

The good news is that Bordeaux lovers can continue to drink Bordeaux, and not go bankrupt — “with some adjustments.” Ward highlights five Bordeaux finds ranging from $20 to $120 dollars.

And he offers several strategies to help you latch on to other relatively affordable bottles, including:

Look for undervalued great wines from earlier vintages — another reason you’ll need a good wine merchant, although the Internet is useful, too. An outstanding vintage for the mainly cabernet-sauvignon wines of the M-doc is 1996, while 1998 favored the merlot communes of St. Emilion and Pomerol. High 2005 prices have put pressure on those earlier vintages, but there are still relative bargains. And those wines have several years of bottle age and are either close to or at their peak, so it won’t be long before you can realize a delectable return on your investment.

For more down-to-earth bargains, turn to Food & Wine, where Ray Isle serves up the “17 best values” from Chile and Argentina.

Isle starts us off with a little history lesson: Did you know that when the first Thanksgiving was being celebrated in Plymouth Colony in 1621, grapes had been cultivated in those two South American countries for nearly 75 years?

Not all of their wines today may be remarkable, “or even good,” Isle says, but “best bottlings” like those listed in this article, ranging from $9 to $20, are extraordinary buys that could easily grace a modern-day Thanksgiving table. A nice primer:

From Chile, look for crisp, citrusy Sauvignon Blanc from the Casablanca and San Antonio valleys, both located close to the Pacific Ocean, and reds made from Carmenère, a distinctively spicy French grape abundant in Chilean vineyards. In Argentina, the Salta province is known for Torrontés, a native grape variety with a distinctive, floral aroma that makes some of the country’s most interesting whites. But Malbec from Mendoza is unquestionably the country’s marquee variety—its rich blueberry and blackberry flavors, light smokiness and soft tannins lead to immensely appealing red wines.

Switching continents, Roger Voss at Wine Enthusiast tells us to prepare for another surprise from Austria.

That is, don’t just think of whites such as Grüner Veltliner and Rieslings when it comes to Austrian wines, because producers have been busily upgrading their red wine-making techniques.

Ten notable red-wine producers are spotlighted. But, as Voss explains, not all is rosy, at least from a pocketbook perspective:

There is, sadly, a downside to these deliciously fruity, sometimes complex, serious wines: price. High local demand has meant that for us—especially with the weak dollar—these wines are not cheap. The norm is $25 and up, although there are some wines under $20.

But it is worth seeking out a selection of the best (see sidebar). Austria has not yet reached the world league for its reds, as it has for its whites. But the producers are moving fast. Ten years ago, this article could not have been written.

An earthy bargain — organic wine from Chile’s Colchaqua Valley

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Marc, wine assistant at Whole Foods
Marc, wine assistant at Whole Foods

I’m lurking in the $10-and-under section of the local Whole Foods grocery store (true to Wine News Review’s fairly frugal affordability index), thinking I’m in the mood for a certain Montepulciano. Don’t ask me why — at that place and point in time, I think it had something utterly to do with the name.

Say it. Let it roll over you tongue. Monte-pul-ciano. Ah, sweet, seems to almost transport you on wings of gossamer wine to that storied ridge of Monte Poliziano in Tuscany’s province of Sienna. (Read more about it here.)

Anyway, I’m admiring the lovely contours of a bottle of this particular product of that storied region, when Marc, the wine assistant, drops by to chitchat and we kick off a conversation about what he recommends. Right off the bat, he asks me if I’d like to try an organic wine.

Blog Action Day
Blog Action Day

Hmmm. Well, I certainly haven’t forgotten that I recently blogged about organic wines, on Blog Action Day 2007. So, yes, I say, I do like organic wines. He recommends an aptly named Natura Carmenere Valle Colchagua 2005, from Chile’s Emiliana vineyards, grown without the use of pesticides or chemicals.

Hmmm. I admire the bottle’s contours and abstractly artistic label, which advertises “notes of ripe cherries and plums.”

I read a little further. “Organic viticulture bring forth the true characters of the vineyard terroir and allows the grapes to express themselves fully.”

I’m sold.

After taking it home, I do a little research. The Colchaqua Valley, though not as storied as Monte Poliziano, is quite exotic in its own right, as the Emiliana website illustrates. Bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes Mountains to the east, the valley is caressed by an “extraordinary combination of maritime breezes and Andean winds.”

The result is delicious. Not only does the wine provide the advertised fruitiness, there’s a dry, rich, earthy complexity that, well, makes we want to take another sip, even as I type this thing.

Leslie Sbrocco at Wine Review Online seems to have had a similarly positive reaction. About the very same Natura Carmenere 2005, she writes: “An ideal wine to get acquainted with the beauty of Carmenere, Chile’s unique red grape. Most affordably priced versions can be too herbal and earthy, but this wine captures the spicy, dried herbal notes of Carmenere coupled with its sultry texture.”

Priced at around $10-12, the Emiliana Carmenere, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon “bust the current belief that organically grown wines are pricey.”

Colchaqua Valley
Graphic from Emiliana Vineyards

So, thanks, Marc, for a fine recommendation. But truth be told, it wasn’t entirely his salesmanship (excellent though it was) that made me go organic rather than follow my Montepulciano inclination. I was primed, so to speak, by a column by the Dalai Lama in the local paper, The Washington Post, this past weekend.

No, Tenzin Gyatso, the spiritual leader of Tibet, doesn’t appear to be a drinking man. But something he said in that piece struck an organic note, and it may have had a bearing on my decision on what to buy:

The rapid changes in our attitude toward the Earth are also a source of hope. Until recently, we thoughtlessly consumed its resources as if there were no end to them. Now not only individuals but also governments are seeking a new ecological order. I often joke that the moon and stars look beautiful, but if any of us tried to live on them, we would be miserable. This blue planet of ours is the most delightful habitat we know. Its life is our life, its future our future. Now Mother Nature is telling us to cooperate. In the face of such global problems as the greenhouse effect and the deterioration of the ozone layer, individual organizations and single nations are helpless. Our mother is teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility.

Maybe you’re thinking, come on, vinothekid — what possible difference could the purchase of a single bottle of organic wine make?!

The Dalai Lama had a response to that. “Large human movements spring from individual human initiatives,” he wrote. “If you feel that you cannot have much of an effect, the next person may also become discouraged, and a great opportunity will have been lost.”

So there you have it. Oh, and one other thing, I’m adding organic wines to my listing of wine Bargains in the News (right column on the front page). As they say in Monte Poliziano, salute!