Chilean Carménère Wine - Coastal and Mountain

A virtual wine tasting event is planned for this week (September, 10, 2020) featuring Chile's TerraNoble Wines.  The Zoom get-together promises to feature TerraNoble winemaker Marcelo Garcia and showcase the different styles the winery makes from the Carménère grape.  Wines grown in the Colchagua & Maule valleys will describe the differences between coastal and mountain Carmenere.

I took the opportunity to get the jump on the event by cracking open a couple of the wines a bit early.  Both are examples of Carménère grown in the Colchagua Valley, in the warm foothills of the Andes Mountains.  Both of these wines sit at 14% alcohol by volume, and both sell for about $25. 

CA 1 Andes Colchagua Valley Carménère 2016

This dark wine offers a nose of black fruit and cassis, painted with cedar, clove and cinnamon.  The very expressive aromas put me in mind of the holidays.  The palate is alive with the dark berry notes and oak spice, and a monstrous set of tannins that need some decant time to soften.  Don't worry, the wine will still handle any steak you put in front of it.

CA 1 Andes Colchagua Valley Carménère 2017

The notes on the 2016 CA 1 apply here as well.  This is a wild wine, full of aromas and flavors, brimming with tannins, ready to rumble.  

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