MontGras 2006 Colchagua Valley Carmenere Reserva

Very deep clear ruby color. Leather, oak, cedar smells. Deep, full flavor of ripe plum with oak and cedar.

The next day the smell is much as it was, the flavor as well, but the flavor has developed a touch of green olive as well.

I would buy this again for $13.29. In a blind tasting, I think I’d mistake this for a unclassed Medoc. If I had good facilities for doing so, I'd buy more with an eye to aging it.

Carmenere is an old Bordeaux grape which was frequently misidentified as Merlot in Chile until quite recently^*. Possibly it was the source of Chilean Merlot you’re familiar with.

^* I stole this fact from Hugh Johnson and failed to credit him, I now realize.