I visited this winery this morning - more on that in later post - and noticed that they were entirely sold out of this one particular wine, which I figured for a good omen.
At first, this wine smelled like bacon-wrapped dates to me. It's definitely Carménère, no doubt about it: kind of a smoky, dark wine, nearly black in color, with a suggestion of sweet caramel. There's also a possibly unattractive note here, slightly sulfurous, but not enough to make a real difference, at least not to me. All in all, it smells pretty darn good. As a drink, though, this is unfortunately not as good as the other Carménère I've tried so far: compared to the Miguel Torres wine at the same price, it's slightly smoother, with less acidity; as a result, it seems just a bit less interesting. There's a kick of tannin at the end and some definite charred barrel notes, but it just doesn't quite work for me - I would have added more acid to the must for sure, hoping to give it more of a balance between the sweet fruit and smoky barrel notes. As it stands, though, it's just fine - no wonder it's sold out - and certainly good value.
At first, this wine smelled like bacon-wrapped dates to me. It's definitely Carménère, no doubt about it: kind of a smoky, dark wine, nearly black in color, with a suggestion of sweet caramel. There's also a possibly unattractive note here, slightly sulfurous, but not enough to make a real difference, at least not to me. All in all, it smells pretty darn good. As a drink, though, this is unfortunately not as good as the other Carménère I've tried so far: compared to the Miguel Torres wine at the same price, it's slightly smoother, with less acidity; as a result, it seems just a bit less interesting. There's a kick of tannin at the end and some definite charred barrel notes, but it just doesn't quite work for me - I would have added more acid to the must for sure, hoping to give it more of a balance between the sweet fruit and smoky barrel notes. As it stands, though, it's just fine - no wonder it's sold out - and certainly good value.
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