Santa Rita 2007 Colchagua Valley Carmenere Single Estate

Extremely dark near-opaque purplish red.

Blackberry and oak smells.

Blackberry flavor, blueberry, oak and tannins at the end.

Very good medium-to-full bodied bottle. $19.99

Santa Rita 2007 Colchagua Valley Carmenere Medalla Real Special Reserve Single Vineyard

Opaque, quite thoroughly opaque.

Full prune, plum, and oak smells.

Big fruit flavor, plum, prune, oak builds.

Very good full-flavored bottle for $17.99. Something this oak-forward would be a bit distasteful in a less fruity wine, but it works well here.

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.