New Wine Recommendations: Carmenere, Chile’s Best Red Wine?

If you love big bold red wines and are stuck on things like French Cabernet and Merlot, or maybe South American Malbec, I've got something here that you're going to want to know about. It's big, it's bold, it's red, and it's both French and South American. This is Carmenere. Carmenere may be the coolest French red grape that you've never heard of, but may have already tasted. You see, it's indigenous to the Bordeaux region of France, and for years it was just quietly blended into most of their wines, so you've never seen it or heard of it before. Carmenere is actually related to Cabernet Franc, and for many years in Bordeaux, during the 18th century, it was used to make some of the greatest wines in the region. Unfortunately, it fell out of favor in France because it's susceptible to disease. Fortunately, the grape found a new home in South America. In the 19th century, Chile had a burgeoning wealthy class, people who were enlightened of the larger world and searching for the finer things, including high quality wine. Several influential politicians and barons of the time invited French winemakers to bring their knowledge and their grapes to the New World to set up shop in Chile, where they could help put the recently liberated country on the map for commerce and trade. So the French winemakers brought their knowledge, and of course their grapes with them, including the castaway Carmenere. And today, Carmenere represents about 25,000 acres in Chile, mostly around the Central Valley region, which is close to the capital of Santiago. So what does Carmenere taste like? Well, the wine is notoriously deep in color and pretty full-bodied. Wine expert Jancis Robinson describes it as having the charm of a Merlot with the structure of a Cabernet. I find it to be fairly tannic. There's always some grippiness on the tongue and teeth, a red currant tang, cherries and berries, and almost always some measure of bell pepper, which comes from the chemical compound that's present in both Cabernet and Merlot as well. The less expensive versions will be a little more simple and one-dimensional, but the elevated versions are going to be more complex with oak aging, vanilla, leather, tobacco, and all of those hallmark notes that you find in the best Bordeaux. And much like Bordeaux, a good Carmenere can age for a long time too, usually up to a decade or more. As you might surmise, a wine like this is great with red meats, especially grilled. After all, grilling is a national pastime in South America. It's also amazing with tomato-based roasts and stews. The grape and wine can also be found to a lesser extent in Italy, California, and even China. But Chile is really home to the best quality Carmenere these days. As far as price, Carmenere can be all over the board. For a relatively affordable everyday version, you'll pay around $10. I would suggest that you go a little bit higher than that though. A nicer, age-worthy bottle will run you around $20 to $25, which is what we have here. So now that the secret is out, go out and get yourself some Carmenere and let me know what you think by sharing in the comment section below this video. I would love it if you could like and share these videos with your friends, and of course subscribe if you haven't already, that way you'll get more when I post them. I'll see you for the next new and interesting wine. Salud!